250 People Missing After Rohingya Refugee Boat Capsizes in Andaman Sea

Around 250 people are reported missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea. The vessel they were on sank due to strong winds, high waves, and overloading.

According to Reuters on Tuesday (14/4/2026), the United Nations refugee and migration agency stated that the fishing boat carrying around 250 men, women, and children sank due to strong winds, high waves, and overloading. The boat had departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh headed for Malaysia.

“This tragedy highlights the immense humanitarian cost of protracted displacement and the continued absence of long-term solutions for the Rohingya,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration in a joint statement.

For years, many from the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar have undertaken journeys on frail wooden boats to try to reach neighbouring countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. This is an effort to escape persecution in Myanmar or overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.

The agencies are calling on the international community to increase and sustain funding for life-saving assistance for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, as well as support for host communities in Bangladesh.

In 2017, Myanmar’s military launched an operation that forced at least 730,000 Rohingya to leave their homes and flee to Bangladesh. They recounted killings, mass rapes, and burnings. A UN fact-finding mission concluded that the 2017 military operation involved “genocidal acts.”

Buddhist-majority Myanmar denies genocide and states that the UN fact-finding mission is not objective or reliable.