The ship left Chittagong port on January 12th. (Representative Image)
In an unbelievable turn of events, a Bangladeshi teenager accidentally travelled to Malaysia, over 3500 kilometres from his home country, in a shipping container after hiding inside of it while playing with friends.
On January 12, a 15-year-old boy named Faheem was playing with his friends at the Chittagong port. He was playing hide and seek with his friends when he decided to hide inside the container and unintentionally locked himself inside. The container was then taken to a commercial ship, the MV Integra, carrying 1,337 TEUS containers, that was to set sail for Malaysia.
Unfortunately, the boy was locked inside the container for the next 5 days as the container was opened at Malaysia's Klang port on January 17. He yelled for help from within the container, but no one could hear him. Everyone is still baffled as to how he managed to survive for five days without even a sip of water or food.
The country's Home Minister clarified the issue after several Malaysian officials questioned whether this was an instance of human trafficking.
"We no longer draw conclusions on aspects of human trafficking because preliminary investigations revealed that the boy entered the container, then fell asleep, and later arrived here," Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
According to the Dhaka Tribune, the Klang Port Authority rescued him from the Marshall Islands-flagged vessel Integra. The port officials learned about the incident on Wednesday evening, said SM Faisal, assistant manager of the ship's agent in Bangladesh, Continental Traders (BD) Limited.
The news outlet reported that the teenager was rescued alive but sick. He was later sent to a hospital in Kelang. Additionally, preparations are being made to repatriate him to Bangladesh after his recovery.
The news source did note that this was not the first event of its kind to occur at the Bangladesh Port. Police in Malaysia's Penang port in October 2022 found a young man's decaying body inside a container that had been sent there from Chittagong.