37 “Rashida Begum,” 18, fled Narzi Quarter in Sittwe Township, Rakhine State, Myanmar in December 2013. Speaking about her experience on board a human-trafficking ship, she said: “There was no rice and no food, only water. [The traffickers] gave us one bottle [of water] in the morning and one in the evening.”75 “Raheem,” 27, told Fortify Rights: “[The traffickers] provided only very little food . . . Sometimes we used water from the sea to survive. Sometimes, we drank the seawater. There was a pipe and [sea] water came through the pipe. That’s what they used to clean the latrine.”76 “Mohammed Khan,” 25, described the large ship he boarded as “a very crowded place” operated by six armed Thai traffickers. He said: We could not lay down there and could not eat regular foods. There was only one drinking water tank and some dried sticky rice to eat. It took eight days to arrive to Thailand. [The traffickers] did not allow us to go out from the bottom of the boat. They beat us, and we could not sleep [well].77 “Mohammed Ishmael,” 20, spent 37 days on a human-trafficking ship with approximately 400 other people, mostly Rohingya. He told Fortify Rights that he witnessed several people die at sea because they “couldn’t get proper food and water.” He added: “[The traffickers] provided very little water and sometimes some noodles. They put the noodles in water. Sometimes, it rained, and we used our clothes to collect rainwater, and then we put it in a cup to drink.”78 “Mohammed Kasem,” 26, fled Myanmar’s Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State in February 2014. Describing his experience on board a human-trafficking ship, he said: There was one Rohingya man on the boat and three others, who spoke the Thai language. They were in charge. We couldn’t talk, we couldn’t move, and they provided food only once per day. There was some space on the boat, but we couldn’t lay down, because it was too crowded.79 “Abdul Haman,” 17, described the treatment he experienced on the human-trafficking ship, saying: It was a medium-sized boat with an open deck. There was not enough food on the boat, and people became almost paralyzed. After three days on the boat, the Thai [traffickers] gave us some rice. Sometimes, they gave us potatoes. The Thai [traffickers] would beat people who spoke. There were six Thai [traffickers] on the boat, but I don’t know who the boat drivers were and who were the dallals. The Thai crew could go anywhere in the boat. They carried long knives. If someone said, “Please, please I am hungry. Can I have more water?” the dallals would beat them.80 In May 2015, when traffickers abandoned ships at sea, stranding several thousand Rohingya and Bangladeshi nationals on board following a regional human-trafficking “crackdown,” several Thai citizens sprung to action to deliver aid to the survivors on the abandoned ships, witnessing the conditions of the survivors on the ships. Chaiwut Chusakun, a 46-year-old Thai tour-boat operator, boarded a ship to deliver water to trafficking survivors on May 14, 2015. He told Fortify Rights: 75 Fortify Rights interview with #18, Pahang State, Malaysia, August 14, 2014. 76 Fortify Rights interview with #23, Johor State, Malaysia, August 15, 2014. 77 Fortify Rights interview with #26, Songkhla Province, Thailand, October 6, 2013. 78 Fortify Rights interview with #50, Bangkok, Thailand, September 23, 2014. 79 Fortify Rights interview with #54, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 27, 2014. 80 Fortify Rights interview with #81, Penang State, Malaysia, September 15, 2014.