Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea
The year 2025 became the deadliest year on record for Rohingya refugees attempting the sea crossing through South and Southeast Asia. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that nearly 900 Rohingya died or went missing on those waters. One in every seven people who attempted the crossing never reached their destination.
More than 6,500 Rohingya refugees tried to cross the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal in 2025. The UNHCR described this route as having the highest death rate of any major sea migration corridor in the world. Women and children made up more than half of those who traveled these waters in recent years. That pattern continues in 2026.
Between January and April 13, 2026, over 2,800 Rohingya had already undertaken the dangerous journey. The numbers show no sign of slowing down. Families continue to board overcrowded, unsafe boats, departing from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh or from Arakan state in Myanmar, heading toward Indonesia or Malaysia.
One tragedy captures the scale of loss. On March 26, a heavily overcrowded vessel left Bangladesh and capsized in the Andaman Sea. An estimated 250 people went missing. On April 9, rescuers found only nine survivors near the Andaman Islands. UNHCR is now providing those survivors with counseling, medical care, and psychosocial support.
The question the world must ask is not why these people are risking their lives. The answer to that is already known. The question is why the world continues to allow the conditions that force them onto these boats. Most Rohingya refugees want to return to Myanmar. They have said so clearly. However, ongoing conflict, systematic persecution, and the denial of citizenship leave them with no real choice.
Thousands face a brutal calculation. Stay in displacement, with no future and no rights. Or board a boat in the dark, holding their children, hoping the sea will be kind. For nearly 900 families in 2025, the sea was not kind.
The UNHCR continues to call on regional governments to increase search and rescue operations, open legal migration pathways, and address the root causes that drive this crisis. Without urgent action, 2026 may surpass 2025 as the deadliest year yet.
