Although Malaysia has ruled out human trafficking, port authorities in the Bay of Bengal area, especially Bangladesh, are facing renewed scrutiny for perceived lax security of cargo.
This has emerged after a boy apparently fell asleep in a dockside container at the Port of Chittagong, was loaded onto a vessel, and travelled some 1 600 nautical miles before he was found about 3 780 kilometres southeast at Port Klang.
He is said to have spent at least five days inside the container before he was discovered by a dockworker at the feeder port of Kuala Lumpur.
Footage shows security personnel carefully standing back from the container while it was being opened, amid cries from the weakened child.
He was given water, fed, washed and admitted to hospital.
According to Malaysian authorities, he said he was playing in the box-stacking area of the Banglasdeshi port before deciding to have a little lie down.
While sleeping, an 1 800-TEU vessel, the Integra, loaded the box and departed for Port Klang on the Malacca Strait.
Malaysian police said: "We are not linking this to human trafficking because the initial investigation found that he entered the container, fell asleep and (was transported to) Malaysia.”
Malaysian authorities have since expressed their intention to have the boy returned to Bangladesh on the same vessel’s return journey.
However, it’s not a case of all’s well that ends well.
Last June, 49 people died when hydrogen peroxide kept at a container depot near the Port of Chittagong ignited, causing a blaze that took days before it was properly extinguished.
The chemical burn, one of the most serious port side incidents in 2022, which also led to the hospitalisation of about 300 people, again raised the spectre of calamity caused by dangerous cargo, potentially misdeclared and stored in areas that are not sufficiently safe.
