Pirates, cyclones and mud - Bangladesh's island solution to Rohingya crisis

A view of the Thengar Char island in the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, February 2, 2017. Picture taken February 2, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

THENGAR CHAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - The island is two hours by boat from the nearest settlement. There are no buildings, mobile phone reception or people. During the monsoon it often floods and, when the seas are calm, pirates roam nearby waters hunting for fishermen to kidnap for ransom.

Welcome to Thengar Char, a muddy stain in the murky waters of the Bay of Bengal, identified by Bangladesh as a short-term solution to the humanitarian crisis unfolding on its border with Myanmar, across which some 70,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled.