GNV News, April 25, 2026

On April 9, 2026, an overcrowded boat carrying about 250 Rohingya refugees departed Teknaf in Bangladesh for Malaysia, but encountered bad weather en route and sank in the Andaman Sea. The Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo reported that only nine people were rescued and many others remain missing. The incident occurred amid a surge in dangerous sea journeys by Rohingya refugees; between January 2026 and April 13, more than 2,800 people attempted such crossings.

The sinking in April took place the year after Rohingya sea movements had already reached record levels of danger. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 2025 was the deadliest year on record for sea journeys by Rohingya refugees in South and Southeast Asia. In 2025, more than 6,500 Rohingya attempted sea crossings, often in unsafe, overcrowded boats, and around 900 people were reported dead or missing in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. In recent years, more than half of the Rohingya attempting hazardous sea journeys have been women and children. UNHCR has described this as the highest death rate among any of the world’s major sea routes used by refugees and migrants.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine State. According to UNHCR, since the early 1990s, more than one million Rohingya have fled successive waves of violence. The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination in Myanmar and, on the basis of their ethnic and religious identity, have been denied citizenship and subjected to restrictions on movement, marriage, religion, healthcare, education, and livelihoods. The largest recent exodus followed renewed violence in Rakhine State and a military crackdown by Myanmar’s armed forces in August 2017, which forced vast numbers of Rohingya to flee. According to UNHCR, after this violence more than 750,000 Rohingya escaped to Bangladesh. UN reports link the crackdown to widespread killings, rape, and the burning of villages.

Bangladesh, which borders Myanmar, has become the main country receiving Rohingya fleeing Rakhine State. Many live in the overcrowded camps in Cox’s Bazar, and some have been relocated to Bhasan Char. According to UNHCR, the camps do receive basic protection and humanitarian assistance services, but refugees continue to face restrictions on freedom of movement, limited livelihood opportunities, and inadequate housing. Funding shortages are also a major constraint. The 2025–26 Joint Response Plan is seeking US$934.5 million to support 1.48 million people, but UN agencies warn that funding shortfalls are straining the services available in the camps.

These conditions, combined with ongoing conflict and persecution in Myanmar, are pushing some Rohingya to undertake dangerous journeys across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea to places such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Their decisions are driven by the search for safety, family reunification, livelihoods, and greater freedom. UNHCR has described the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea as an “unmarked graveyard” for Rohingya refugees, and stated that the record number of deaths should spur renewed efforts to address the root causes of displacement and prevent further loss of life at sea.

Learn more about the Rohingya issue → “The Rohingya Crisis: A Chain of Persecution and Migration”

Learn more about refugee issues in Southeast Asia → “The Situation of Refugees in Southeast Asia”

Rohingya refugees disembarking from a boat in Bangladesh (Photo: Prachatai / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])