2025: The Deadliest Year on Record

Nearly 900 Rohingya refugees went missing or died in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in 2025, making it the deadliest year ever recorded for the persecuted minority in South and Southeast Asia. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) issued the grim warning on April 17, calling the waters an "unmarked graveyard" for thousands of desperate people.

A Sea of Unmarked Graves

UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch, speaking in Geneva, said approximately 5,000 Rohingya refugees are believed to have drowned at sea over the past decade. "This makes, sadly, the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal an unmarked graveyard for thousands of desperate Rohingya refugees," he said.

The announcement came days after a shipwreck on April 8 off the coast of Bangladesh, in which hundreds of Rohingya went missing and are feared drowned.

A Decade of Persecution, A Decade of Desperate Crossings

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority who have long faced discrimination and persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Large-scale maritime exodus began intensifying around 2012. Since then, nearly 200,000 Rohingya have risked their lives at sea.

The crisis reached a breaking point in 2017, when hundreds of thousands fled Myanmar for Bangladesh following a massive military crackdown. The then-UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein described the campaign as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." Today, over one million Rohingya live in camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh — one of the world's largest refugee settlements.

The reason they keep taking to the sea is stark: Myanmar remains unsafe and offers no path to citizenship. Since the 2021 military coup, conflict has intensified, and the prospect of voluntary, dignified return remains remote.

Future Outlook [Expert Analysis]

Baloch stressed that most Rohingya wish to return to Myanmar when conditions allow, but "ongoing conflict, persecution, and the absence of citizenship prospects leave them with really little hope."

"No one would put their family on a risky boat knowing that the chances of survival are really low if the sense of desperation is not there," he warned. "If there is no hope, we fear more people may lose their lives."

Without a political resolution in Myanmar, deadly sea crossings are likely to continue into 2026 and beyond. UNHCR hopes the record death toll will pressure the international community to confront what is happening inside Myanmar — and take meaningful action.