At least 180 ethnic Rohingya who were stranded at sea for weeks after leaving Bangladesh in November are feared dead, as their rickety boat is believed to have sunk this month, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).
According to unconfirmed reports, the “unseaworthy” boat most likely sank after going missing in the sea.
“Relatives have lost contact,” the UNHCR wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “Those last in touch presume all are dead.”
More than a million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in overcrowded camps in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, including tens of thousands who fled Myanmar following a deadly crackdown by the Myanmar military in 2017.
Most Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and are viewed as interlopers, illegal South Asian immigrants.
They have little access to work in Bangladesh, however.
Traffickers frequently entice them to risky journeys with promises of work in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia.
Despite the dangers of thirst, hunger, and disease, refugees frequently end up drifting in international waters after fleeing southern Bangladesh in search of food, work, and shelter elsewhere in Asia.
Two Myanmar Rohingya activist groups said last week that up to 20 people died of hunger or thirst on a boat stranded at sea for two weeks off India’s coast. The boat, which was said to be carrying at least 100 people, was said to be in Malaysian waters.
Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan navy rescued 104 Rohingya refugees stranded off the northern coast of the Indian Ocean island.
The UNHCR has urged countries in the region to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis, while refugees have urged the world not to forget their plight.