GENEVA: Last year was the deadliest on record for Rohingya refugees fleeing by sea, with deaths continuing to soar in 2026, the UN said Friday, after hundreds were lost in a shipwreck earlier this month.
"In 2025, nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal," the United Nations refugee agency's spokesman Babar Baloch told a press briefing in Geneva.
That marks "the deadliest year on record" for the region, according to data from UNHCR, he said.
Baloch highlighted that out of the more than 6,500 Rohingya who had attempted perilous sea crossings last year, "one in seven (were) reported missing or dead".
That, he said, was "the highest mortality rate worldwide of any major route for refugee and migrant sea journeys".
The Rohingya mainly leave from huge camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, where more than a million refugees forced to flee across the border from war-torn Myanmar's Rakhine state live in squalid conditions.
Rakhine state has been the scene of fierce fighting between the military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic minority rebel group.
The Rohingya undertake perilous sea journeys every year in search of better living conditions, travelling aboard rickety boats often operated by trafficking networks.
'Unmarked graveyard for thousands'
Baloch roughly estimated that "nearly 200,000 Rohingya refugees ... have taken these dangerous sea journeys since 2012".
And, he estimated, "more than 5,000 Rohingya refugees have lost their lives during these dangerous sea journeys over a decade".
"This makes, sadly, the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal an unmarked graveyard for thousands of desperate Rohingya refugees in recent years."
Baloch pointed out that most Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh wanted to return to Myanmar "once conditions allow for a voluntary, dignified and safe return".
But he stressed that "ongoing conflict, persecution and the absence of citizenship prospects leave them with little hope".
Limited humanitarian aid in Bangladesh, "compounded by insecurity in the camps and limited access to education and livelihoods", pushes refugees towards dangerous journeys, he explained.
In recent years, more than half of those attempting such crossings have been women and children, according to UNHCR data.
This year, Baloch said, "with more than 2,800 Rohingya undertaking dangerous sea journeys between January and April 13".
His comments came days after news emerged that a boat carrying about 280 Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi migrants had capsized in the Andaman Sea.
The boat, which left the southern Bangladeshi port of Teknaf on April 4 and was on its way to Malaysia, sank due to heavy winds, rough seas and overcrowding, according to the United Nations.
Bangladeshi authorities said nine people had been rescued, while Baloch said an estimated 250 people are missing.
"UNHCR is providing counselling and referrals for medical and psychosocial support to Rohingya survivors," he said.
The UN refugee agency said it was calling on states to "address the root causes of displacement, expand safe and legal pathways, and strengthen regional cooperation to save lives and combat smuggling and trafficking".