250 Rohingya Refugees Missing After Boat Capsizes in Andaman Sea

A boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea on April 9. The United Nations reported about 250 people, including children, were feared missing. The trawler departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh en route to Malaysia.

Heavy winds, rough seas, and overcrowding reportedly caused the vessel’s sinking. UNHCR stated that thousands of Rohingya, Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority, risk their lives annually while fleeing repression and civil war in their country by sea.

The latest boat likely carried people from Cox’s Bazar camps in Bangladesh, where over a million refugees live in squalid conditions after being forced to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Fierce fighting between the military and ethnic rebel group Arakan Army has occurred in this region.

Preliminary information indicated that the vessel was carrying around 280 people when it left Bangladesh on April 4. The Bangladesh Coast Guard rescued nine survivors, including one woman, from deep waters near the Andaman Islands on April 9.

Rohingya refugees often face hazardous sea crossings facilitated by human trafficking syndicates. UNHCR emphasized the dire consequences of protracted displacement and the urgent need to address root causes in Myanmar to allow Rohingya refugees to return home safely and with dignity.