A/HRC/39/CRP.2 Another man, from Myaung Nar in southern Buthidaung Township, recalled, “There were babies’ bodies floating in the water”. 2234 994. Drownings were prevalent in those villages where crossing large bodies of water were the only way to escape. Many drowned in Min Gyi, Maungdaw Township, when trying to escape from the shore, located on the long bend of a wide river.2235 One man recalled that the river was so high that elderly people and children were not able to cross, with many of them drowning. His young son probably drowned: “He was trying to swim with us, but he was young, only 7 years old. The rest of the family could cross by swimming, but we don’t know what happened to him.”2236 Similarly, in Gu Dar Pyin, Buthidaung Township, many people tried to cross a nearby river to escape the violence, but this also led to drownings. One villager described seeing 10 to 12 people drown in the river, mostly women. 2237 995. People also drowned after being shot at and forced to jump into the water. An elderly man recalled the military shooting at a group trying to cross the river, some of whom jumped in the water and drowned: My grandson, who was three-years old, died when my daughter-in-law jumped into the river, while crossing the canal. The military started shooting at people who were about to cross the river. She was afraid and jumped into the river with her son. The child drowned and we found his body later on.2238 996. In certain locations, babies were thrown into the river by security forces and intentionally drowned.2239 One woman described seeing soldiers throwing a number of infants and babies, taken from their mothers, into the river at Maung Gyi Taung in Buthidaung Township. Some of their parents protested and were killed, while others managed to rescue their children from the river. She said that other mothers lost their children as they were trying to cross the river: “The children could not hold on properly and they were lost in the water”.2240 997. A large number of people died when boats capsized on the journey to Bangladesh, across the Naf River or in the treacherous open waters of the Bay of Bengal. The Bangladesh Border Guard Police recovered more than 100 bodies from the Bangladesh side of the border. Many people saw boats capsize, people drown, and dead bodies floating in the water. 2241 One witness saw a boat capsize as she was crossing a river, and all passengers drowned, including children.2242 Another man recalled the large number of dead bodies he saw in the water when he reached the Bangladesh side of the border: “There were many people crying there, mourning their drowned family members”. 2243 998. Members of the Mission witnessed the aftermath of a boat that had capsized in the Bay of Bengal on the coast of southern Bangladesh, in Imani, approximately 12 kilometres north of Shamlapur, on 31 October 2017. The boat capsized in waves not far from the shore and 10 people drowned, including elderly women and children. Disposal of bodies 999. The “clearance operations” resulted in a large number of corpses, strewn across villages, inside houses, along roads, in paddy fields or floating in ponds or rivers. Many also saw dead bodies on their journey to Bangladesh, often in or near burned villages. Witnesses able to return to their villages after “clearance operations”, normally after nightfall, saw large numbers of dead bodies of their neighbours and relatives. However, others who returned to 2234 2235 2236 2237 2238 2239 2240 2241 2242 2243 LI-107. See this chapter, section D.1.a: Most serious incidents. LI-097. LI-063. CI-023. CI-046, EI-030, EI-050, WI-021. EI-030. EI-045, WI-016. CI-123. QI-111. 239