I. At Sea: Abuses on Human-Trafficking Ships in the Bay of Bengal 32 “Ebadullah,” 25, from Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State, who fled Myanmar in 2014 to escape forced labor by the Myanmar Army.42 He witnessed one killing at sea: “One man was killed from being beaten. I saw the blood all over his head. A Thai man beat him with a stick. He was asking for rice and water, and that’s why he was beaten.”43 Suicides at Sea “Abdul Yasin,” 17, witnessed traffickers kill six people, telling Fortify Rights, “[S]ome people got so upset, they just jumped in the water.” He added: At least 25 people jumped into the sea, all men, young ages, in their twenties. It was very hot on the boat. We had to stay on the lower deck and suffered a lot. We had no water. They said they couldn’t suffer anymore and jumped into the sea. The young people who were stronger were kept at the bottom of the boat.44 “Mohammed Khan,” a 25-year-old Bangladeshi man trafficked from Bangladesh to Thailand in August 2013, also witnessed suicide and death at sea. He told Fortify Rights: A number people died at sea. Without the rainwater, all the people would have died. The five Thais who managed the trip, ate food and drank water. They provided us with rice only once in five days. There was a lack of water too. They did not provide water. The people became crazy and tried to move here and there. A man jumped into the sea and nobody saved his life. The one who jumped into the sea was a man around 35-years old. He jumped because he was thirsty and became crazy. He had a photo of two of his children, and he cried when he looked at the photo. Finally, he jumped into the sea.45 “Noor Wai,” 15, is a Rohingya girl from Aung Mingalar village in Sittwe Township, Myanmar, who spent 19 days at sea. She told Fortify Rights: [The traffickers] were regularly beating people, especially the men and boys. Sometimes, they wouldn’t give us food for two or three days. About five people died on the boat and three other people jumped into the sea. They couldn’t face more trouble in the sea than what we faced on the boat. Three people jumped, and then they saved two people, but one person wasn’t found. He died.46 A 17-year-old Rohingya girl from Maungdaw Township in Myanmar’s Rakhine State told Fortify Rights: It took eight days to reach Thailand. During the journey, three men went crazy, because they didn’t have enough food. One man jumped off the boat. This man was an old man with white hair. After the one man jumped off the boat, the dallals bound the hands and ankles of the other two men to prevent them from jumping. They only unbound their hands to allow them to eat. Other people on the boat tried to take care of these men.47 This girl fled Myanmar in August 2014 after Myanmar Army soldiers broke down the door to her home, arrested residents in her village, and raped her aunt.48 42 Fortify Rights interview with #04, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 10, 2014. Fortify Rights has information about several thousand cases of forced labor in northern Rakhine State by the Myanmar Army in 2014 as well as eyewitness and survivor testimony. See, Testimony of Matthew Smith, Executive Director of Fortify Rights, the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, April 21, 2015, http://www.fortifyrights.org/downloads/FR_TIP_Testimony_ April_2015.pdf (accessed July 8, 2015). See also, Aubrey Belford and Soe Zeya Tun, “Forced Labor Shows Back-Breaking Lack of Reform in Myanmar Military,” Reuters, July 2, 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/02/us-myanmarrohingya-forcedlabour-idUSKCN0PC2L720150702 (accessed July 8, 2015). 43 Fortify Rights interview with #04, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 10, 2014. 44 Fortify Rights interview with #44, Songkhla Province, Thailand, September 17, 2014. 45 Fortify Rights interview with #26, Songkhla Province, Thailand, October 6, 2013. 46 Fortify Rights interview with #69, Penang State, Malaysia, October 1, 2014. 47 Fortify Rights interview with #82, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, September 16, 2014. 48 Ibid.