About 180 Rohingya refugees feared dead after boat goes missing

About 180 Rohingya refugees are feared to have died after their boat went missing in the Andaman Sea, making 2022 one of the deadliest years for the refugees trying to flee the camps in Bangladesh.

Kefayatullah, the captain of another boat carrying Rohingya refugees that was rescued by the Sri Lankan coastguard earlier this month after it ran into trouble, said he saw the boat carrying the 180 refugees get caught up in high waves during a stormy night some time in the second week of December.

If the sinking of the boat is confirmed, it would bring the number of Rohingya refugees who have died on sea crossings to Malaysia in 2022 close to 350, one of the worst tolls in recent years, demonstrating the desperation of many of the Rohingya refugees to flee to a new life outside the camps in Bangladesh.

On Monday, a boat carrying about 160 Rohingya refugees, which had been adrift for weeks, was rescued off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia, according to two Rohingya rights groups and relatives of those onboard. The boat had been floating in the Andaman Sea without food and water for weeks but pleas for rescue had gone ignored by surrounding countries. More than a dozen onboard, mostly women and children, are thought to have died on the crossing.

Mohammed Rezuwan Khan, the brother of one of the women onboard, who was travelling with her five-year-old daughter, said he had spoken to the captain of the boat several times over the past few weeks.

The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, last week urged governments in south and south-east Asia to act on the calls of distress from the Rohingya refugee boats.