Overview
- UNHCR reports nearly 900 Rohingya dead or missing on the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal route in 2025, the highest toll recorded for these crossings.
- More than one in seven of the roughly 6,500 people who set out last year did not survive, which the agency calls the worst mortality rate for refugee sea journeys worldwide.
- The departures have continued into 2026, with UNHCR counting more than 2,800 people leaving by mid-April, many aiming for Malaysia or Indonesia.
- A trawler that left Teknaf in southern Bangladesh sank in rough seas with about 250 people reported missing, and the Bangladesh coastguard said it rescued nine survivors.
- UNHCR links the flights to persecution in Myanmar, packed camps in Bangladesh, and funding shortfalls, and says women and children now make up more than half of those on these boats.