Record number of Rohingya refugees died at sea last year, UNHCR says

The UN refugee agency has warned of an ‘unmarked graveyard for thousands of desperate Rohingya refugees’ in South Asia

The United Nations refugee agency has revealed that nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported dead or missing in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea in 2025.

This was the deadliest year on record for maritime movements in South and South East Asia, and thousands of people continue to make the dangerous journeys in 2026, the UN said on Friday.

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Speaking to reporters in Geneva, the UNHCR’s spokesperson, Babar Baloch, described the area as an “unmarked graveyard for thousands of desperate Rohingya refugees”, noting that some 5,000 are thought to have drowned at sea over the last decade.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees began fleeing Myanmar in 2017 amid an ethnic cleansing campaign. They largely settled in refugee camps in Bangladesh, which continues to give refuge to those fleeing today.

However, humanitarian aid in the country has been reduced due to funding shortfalls, and there is limited access to education and opportunities in the camps, prompting people to attempt the dangerous sea crossings.

More than 2,800 Rohingya have done so this year, the majority leaving from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh or Rakhine State in Myanmar in the hope of reaching Malaysia or Indonesia.

While Baloch says that most wish to return to Myanmar once conditions allow, “ongoing conflict, persecution, and the absence of citizenship prospects leave them with really little hope” of doing so.

In recent years, over half of those making the sea journeys have been women and children, who are at risk of trafficking and exploitation.

Deadly journeys

Earlier this month, an overcrowded trawler carrying about 250 Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals sank in the Andaman Sea. It was on its way to Malaysia from the southern Bangladeshi port of Teknaf when it experienced rough seas and heavy winds on April 8. While the Bangladeshi coastguard said it had rescued nine people, hundreds more are missing.

The UNHCR hopes that highlighting the record death toll will make people aware of “what the Rohingyas are going through inside Myanmar and in the refugee camps and in the wider region”, and prompt solutions to avoid another record toll in 2026.