By: Camp Correspondent, Hafizur Rahman
Sittwe, Arakan State | April 27, 2025
In a tragic incident that underscores the deepening humanitarian crisis in Arakan State, a Rohingya father has died after he and his family attempted to take their own lives by ingesting poison, driven by days of hunger and despair inside the Sittwe Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp.
The incident occurred on Sunday evening, when the family of four—desperately impoverished and without food—resorted to drinking poison in what camp residents described as a desperate act of hopelessness. While neighbors were able to save the mother and two children by rushing them to the camp clinic, the father did not survive.
“We heard the children crying and ran to their shelter,” said Maung Tun, a neighbor who helped rescue them. “They were all unconscious. We tried to give them water and rushed them to the clinic, but the father didn’t make it.”
According to residents, the family had gone several days without sufficient food and had exhausted all possible means of survival. The ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid, exacerbated by the recent escalation of conflict between junta forces and the Arakan Army (AA), has left Rohingya families in Sittwe camps facing famine-like conditions.
“The father used to say he couldn’t bear watching his children starve,” said Daw Aye Thida, a neighbor. “He was broken, worried, and quiet. This was not just suicide—it was the result of total neglect.”
The family’s suicide attempt has sent shockwaves throughout the already fragile camp community. Displaced residents are now calling on humanitarian organizations, the United Nations, and international actors to respond urgently with food, mental health support, and protection measures.
Camp leaders say that with food supplies dwindling and access routes cut off, many families are teetering on the edge of collapse. Several residents have reported skipping meals for days, and children are increasingly falling ill due to malnutrition.
“If help doesn’t come now,” warned a camp volunteer, “we’ll lose more lives—not just from violence, but from starvation and hopelessness.”
This incident serves as a dire warning of what lies ahead for thousands of Rohingya trapped in Sittwe and other conflict-affected areas, where aid has become a weapon of war, and survival hangs by a thread.
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