Parents claim missing son among migrants rescued in Indonesia! (video)

“He is our son, we are sure about it,” these are the words of a man, whose university going son went missing during an outing in St Martin of Cox’s Bazar a year back.    

Hasanur Rahman, father of missing Sabbir Hassan, said this while pointing at a youth in a photograph of the Bangladesh and Ronhingya migrants rescued in Indonesia that was published in national and international dailies on May 11.

Over a year into the missing of the Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology student at the coast of St Martin Island, his parents claimed that their son is among the rescued migrants from a boat in Aceh of Indonesia recently.

A joyful trip turned tragic in a simple twist of fate when four students of the university drowned and two others went missing in the waters of St Martin's where they went to celebrate Pahela Baishakh last year. Sabbir was among the ill-fated one who went missing there.

International news agency Reuters published the photograph of the rescued migrants on May 11. Four boats carrying some 1,400 Rohingya migrants were rescued off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia on May 11. On the same day, Indonesian search and rescue teams discovered another boat drifting off east Aceh with 400 men, women and children from Myanmar and Bangladesh aboard. The Daily Star online ran this photograph on the same day.

“Me and my wife saw the photograph of our son after 14 months. We can recognise him as we have taken care of him from his childhood,” said Sabbir’s father,

Sabbir Hasan was a student of Computer Science and Engineering department at Ahsanullah University.

Talking to the private satellite television Channel i, Sabbir’s mother said, “I can recognise even from afar that this is my son.” Pointing at the photograph of the migrants, she also said “This is my son’s sleeping style… he has become very thin.”  

Channel i aired the story on Tuesday.

Rahman today alleged that they did not get any positive response from foreign ministry and Bangladesh embassy in Indonesia though they sought cooperation to bring back their son.

“After noticing the photograph in media on May 11, we informed the matter to foreign ministry and Bangladesh embassy in Indonesia But they did not respond to us,” he observed.

He urged the government to take steps to bring back his son immediately.

Zakiya Sultana, associate professor of Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, also urged the government to look into the matter sincerely.