At least 250 Rohingya, Bangladesh migrants missing after boat sinks

April 15 (UPI) -- As many as 250 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants and refugees are missing after their boat went down in the Andaman Sea as they attempted to make the 1,500-mile crossing from Bangladesh to Malaysia, the United Nations refugee and migration agencies said Wednesday.

The fishing boat capsized and sank "due to heavy winds, rough seas and overcrowding" at some point last week, most likely on April 7 or 8, said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

The vessel was carrying almost 280 people, including women and children, when it left Teknaf in southeastern Bangladesh on April 4 before being hit by a storm after three days at sea.

A coast guard official told the BBC that nine people clinging to wreckage were pulled from the water by a passing Bangladesh vessel on Thursday.

"They were left floating at sea for nearly two days, holding onto drums and pieces of wood," said the coast guard officer.

Another 11 were rescued in the early hours of Saturday by a Bangladesh-flagged oil tanker, which was en route to Indonesia.

Survivors reported that about 100 people were in the water.

The coast guard officer said the precise numbers remained unclear but that "no trace of the others or of the boat" had been found.

"This tragedy highlights the devastating ​human cost of protracted displacement and the continued absence ​of durable solutions for the Rohingya," the International Organization for Migration said, referencing the almost decade-long plight of the Muslim-ethnic minority who have been fleeing deadly persecution in neighboring Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

The IOM is an arm of the United Nations.

The agencies said entrenched violence against Rohingyas in their home state of Rakhine, which flared up in 2017, forcing as many as 750,000 to flee, mostly across the border into refugee camps in Bangladesh, had "faded hopes of safe return in the near future."

They added, noting that cuts in humanitarian assistance and worsening conditions in the camps were leaving them with little choice but to "take such dangerous sea journeys in search of safety and opportunity."

Survivor Rafiqual Islam said at least 30 people suffocated after members of human trafficking gangs on board locked them in fish and fishing net storage compartments to avoid being stopped by coast guard patrols.

"There was hardly any oxygen. We could not breathe," said the 40-year-old who explained that he had boarded the boat because he had been offered work in Malaysia.

The U.N. agencies urged the international community to maintain funding for Rohingya refugees and the struggling communities hosting them in Bangladesh.

"As Bangladesh marks its new year, this tragedy is a reminder of the efforts urgently needed to address the root causes of displacement in Myanmar and create conditions that would allow Rohingya refugees return home voluntarily, safely and with dignity," said the UNHCR and IOM.

"Without collective action, more lives will be lost at sea and on desperate journeys through deadly routes," they added.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 7:07 AM.