The process of shipping away furniture, electronics, clothes, and many other things oversees has been a popular form of travel for decades. However, the shipping away of human life is a highly rare occurrence, and when it happens, social media immediately lets their imagination run wild with conspiracies and theories.  

On Jan. 11th, a young Bangladesh boy who was recently identified as 15-year-old, Fahim, got himself involved in a what was meant to be, fun game of hide and seek with his friends. However the outcome of Fahim’s intentions were greatly reversed when he accidently locked himself inside of a shipping container located in Chittagong. 

Some hours later, the shipping container was sent to Malaysia with Fahim inside. A whopping 6-day, 1600-mile trip, is what Fahim went through, before on Jan. 17th, a worker at Malaysia’s shipping port heard banging coming from one of the containers. As the worker opened it, out stepped poor Fahim, unaware of his physical or verbal surroundings. 

After coming in contact with this absurd finding, the first thing the workers did was contact local law enforcement, who had a fear in the back of their minds, being that Fahim was a part of a human trafficking instance. Once law enforcement arrived, they immediately obtained him medical care due to his fever and overall unstable condition. 

Some days later, an investigation was done by law enforcement, who concluded the reality of what happened, being that this all occurred from a silly game of hide and seek. Fahim has received medical treatment, however an update on his health status has not been reported. 

Now that all of this information has been released to the public, they have some reasonable questions such as “Why were the boys playing hide and seek at a shipping port?”, “Why did his friends not report anything?”, and “Why are shipping containers not checked before they are shipped out?” Here are my theories. 

1. “Why were the boys playing hide and seek at a shipping port?”  

Shipping ports tend to be quite large and complex with a multitude of small and large containers. This would be the ultimate spot to play hide and seek at. It would not be a surprise if the boys were not thinking of the dangers this situation could bring due to its rare occurrence of shipping a human overseas. 

2. “Why did his friends not report anything?”  

It is unaware how close he was with these other boys. He may have been friends with them, or maybe he had run into them at the shipping port and decided to play a game of hide and seek together. If this was the case, and the boys couldn’t find him, due to him not being a close friend of theirs, they may have assumed he ran off or got lost. The boys may not have cared enough to make the effort at continuing their game. 

3. “Why are shipping containers not checked before they are shipped out?” 

Shipping ports contain hundreds of containers, both big and small, full of various items. For workers to take the time of looking through each and every container thoroughly before shipping them out, it would take hours, maybe even days to do so. Granted this is the case as of now, maybe things will change now that this tragic scenario has occurred.  

With the fast pacing of social media, information gets spread quickly, leaving people to build their own ideas, as well as bounce off of other peoples. It is unaware exactly the answer to these questions, however what is important is that Fahim had been recovered and is safe.  

Sources: 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shipping-container-boy-hide-and-seek-bangladesh-malaysia/