At Least 250 Missing After Rohingya Refugee Boat Capsizes in Andaman Sea

At least 250 people are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea, the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration announced in a joint statement on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. The vessel, a trawler carrying approximately 250 to 280 men, women, and children, departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh on April 4 and was bound for Malaysia. Strong winds, rough seas, and severe overcrowding caused the captain to lose control of the boat, which subsequently capsized and sank. Nine survivors were rescued on April 9 by the Bangladeshi-flagged vessel MT Meghna Pride from international waters near the Andaman Islands, according to Bangladesh Coast Guard spokesperson Sabbir Alam Sujan. The exact location and precise timing of the sinking remain unclear, as does the current status of any search and rescue operations.

Survivor describes suffocation deaths before capsizing Rafiqul Islam, one of the nine survivors, described a harrowing ordeal that began when traffickers forced passengers into cramped storage compartments designed for fish and nets in an attempt to avoid coastal patrols. „There was hardly any oxygen. We could not breathe.” — Rafiqul Islam via Reuters Islam said at least 30 people died from suffocation inside those compartments before the boat even capsized. When the vessel overturned, hundreds were thrown into the sea; Islam estimated around 240 people were still onboard at that moment, including approximately 20 women and several children. Survivors said nearly 300 people had been packed onto the boat in total, including crew members and suspected traffickers. Islam recounted that a passing Bangladeshi oil vessel initially rescued four survivors, who then alerted the crew to others still in the water, leading to the recovery of five more people. He also described a multi-stage journey in which passengers first left on a small fishing boat before being transferred to a larger trawler near Myanmar waters, at one point hiding in bushes to evade detection by patrols.

UN agencies warn of deadliest sea route in the world The UNHCR and IOM described the disaster as evidence of the devastating human cost of prolonged displacement and the absence of sustainable solutions for the Rohingya people. „The promise of better wages abroad, often coupled with misinformation spread by trafficking networks, leads Rohingya and Bangladeshis to take significant risks.” — UNHCR and IOM via Deutsche Welle According to UNHCR data, in 2025 one in five people attempting dangerous sea crossings in the region was reported dead or missing, with the agencies describing the waters of the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal as among the deadliest in the world. Between January and October 2025, the IOM recorded more than 1,300 cases of Rohingya refugee departures from Bangladesh, nearly double the figure from the same period the previous year. The two agencies called on the international community to increase and sustain funding for life-saving assistance to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and to support host communities in the country.

2024: 650, 2025: 1300

Over a million Rohingya stranded in Bangladesh with dwindling aid Bangladesh currently hosts approximately 1.2 million Rohingya refugees, most of whom fled violence in Myanmar in 2017, when the Myanmar military launched an offensive that forced at least 730,000 people across the border. The 2017 military offensive in Myanmar's Rakhine State prompted one of the largest and fastest refugee exoduses in recent decades, with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh and reporting killings, mass rape, and arson. A UN fact-finding mission concluded that the 2017 offensive included acts of genocide. Myanmar, where Buddhists form the majority, denied the genocide finding and disputed the mission's objectivity. The Rohingya have faced decades of discrimination and statelessness in Myanmar, where they are not recognized as citizens. Ongoing violence in Rakhine State has made safe return uncertain, leaving the vast majority confined to overcrowded camps in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district. In those camps, refugees receive limited humanitarian assistance and face restricted access to education and employment, conditions that drive many toward dangerous sea journeys. A report by the International Rescue Committee, based on a survey of 500 households in Cox's Bazar, found that just 2 percent of Rohingya parents feel hopeful about their children's future. Food rations have been reduced to as little as seven dollars per person per month, and nearly 69 percent of refugee households reported children dropping out of school, while half said their children had been forced into labor. The IRC urged donors and authorities to shift from emergency aid toward long-term solutions, warning that without sustained support both refugees and host communities face deepening poverty.