A piece of Bangladesh in the sea

Red crabs scuttle across the sandy beach. Thousands of birds soar above the island newly emerged off the Kuakata coast, 40 kilometres from the southeast corner of Gangamoti. It appears to be a 'little' Bangladesh within Bangladesh.

The new island was discovered by a group of tourists recently. They went to visit the island after hearing about it from fishermen on 5 December.

The local fishermen named it 'Hairer Chor'. 'Hair', in local dialect, refers to the boundary determined for the fishermen for fishing.

The tourists have named the island 'Chor Bijoy' (Island of Victory) as it has been discovered in the month of victory. They hoisted a national flag in the island.

The island has been officially named 'Chor Bijoy' by the municipal administration of Kuakata. Officials of the local administration, forest department and other organisations visited the island on Wednesday.

Tourists Shima Akhter and her husband were among those who visited the island for the first time. She told Prothom Alo, "We have travelled to so many places, but such a beautiful island in the middle of the sea was beyond our imagination. We were overwhelmed. The beauty was out of this world."

According to the fishermen, the island goes under water during the monsoons and reappears in winter. The marginal fishermen go to the island then and set up temporary abode. They stay there for three months to catch fish and dry them.

The island stretches is 10 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide, stretching from the east to west. The length and breadth reduce to 3 kilometres and 1 kilometre respectively during high tide.

Fisherman Altaf Hossain said, generally the fishermen from Gangamoti and Kawar Char go to this island. The island first started to appear around four years ago and finally emerged and became visible two years ago. The fishermen then started to go to the island to fish and process dried fish. 

The tourist group of 'Kuakata Sea Tourism' went to the island recently. Kuakata Bangabandhu High School's head master and the assistant headmaster visited the island along with tourists from Dhaka.

"We did not know about such a beautiful island near Kuakata. We only came to know about it from the fishermen and went there. We called this enchanting island 'Chor Bijoy' as it has been discovered in the month of victory," Johnny Alamgir, an official of Kuakata Sea Tourism, told Prothom Alo.

*The article originally published in Prothom Alo print edition has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat.