The United Nations said on Friday it fears that as many as 427 Rohingya refugees have perished in two separate shipwrecks off the coast of Myanmar earlier this month, marking what could be the deadliest maritime disaster involving Rohingya so far in 2025.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the tragic incidents occurred on 9 and 10 May and involved two overcrowded vessels carrying Rohingya fleeing persecution and conflict.
“This would be the deadliest tragedy at sea involving Rohingya refugees so far this year,” the agency said in a sombre statement.
The UNHCR noted that while the precise circumstances surrounding the shipwrecks are still being verified, preliminary information suggests a catastrophic loss of life. The first boat, carrying 267 people, sank on 9 May. Only 66 survivors have been identified. A second vessel with 247 people on board capsized the following day, with just 21 known survivors.
In total, the death toll from both disasters is feared to be 427—highlighting the immense risks that the Rohingya continue to face as they flee decades-long persecution in Myanmar and deteriorating conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
“The UN Refugee Agency is gravely concerned about reports of two boat tragedies off the coast of Myanmar earlier this month,” the statement said.
Most of the victims were believed to be fleeing from either Bangladesh’s sprawling refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar or Myanmar’s Rakhine State—both areas experiencing deepening humanitarian crises. Rakhine, in particular, has recently been the epicentre of renewed fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic insurgent group vying for territorial control.
“The dire humanitarian situation, exacerbated by funding cuts, is having a devastating impact on the lives of Rohingya, with more and more resorting to dangerous journeys to seek safety, protection and a dignified life for themselves and their families,” said Hai Kyung Jun, UNHCR’s regional director for Asia and the Pacific.
In 2024 alone, an estimated 657 Rohingya died in maritime incidents across the region, underscoring a growing trend of deadly sea crossings as despair mounts. The latest twin shipwrecks now risk pushing 2025’s toll even higher, and come amid increasing warnings from humanitarian agencies about neglect and underfunding of Rohingya aid efforts.
The Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority group in Myanmar, have endured systematic discrimination for decades. Stripped of citizenship and subjected to military crackdowns—including what the United Nations has described as a campaign of ethnic cleansing in 2017—many have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, particularly Bangladesh. Over one million Rohingya currently reside in overcrowded and impoverished camps in Cox’s Bazar, where conditions have deteriorated due to aid shortages and growing insecurity.
UNHCR has called for urgent international attention to address the root causes of displacement and provide safer, legal pathways for those forced to flee.
“These tragedies are not only a reflection of failed policies in Myanmar and Bangladesh,” a UN official said, “but also of the international community’s fading attention and waning commitment to the world’s most vulnerable.”
With rescue efforts now focused on the survivors and confirming the number of missing, humanitarian organisations are urging regional governments to bolster search-and-rescue capabilities and cooperate to prevent further loss of life at sea.
As families mourn loved ones lost to the sea and survivors reckon with yet another chapter of suffering, the world is again confronted with the deadly consequences of displacement, desperation, and neglect.
