180 Rohingya refugees could have died in Indian Ocean waters in December when the ship carrying them sank after several weeks of drifting, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned Sunday. Citing unconfirmed reports, the agency has said the refugees boarded an “unseaworthy” ship in November and have not heard from them since. “Relatives have lost contact,” UNHCR wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “The last who knew of them estimate that they are all dead.”
Persecuted in their homeland of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, the Muslim-majority Rohingya have sought refuge outside their country for decades, particularly in neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh. This exodus has intensified after the military regime unleashed violent repression against the former Burma’s Muslim minorities in 2017. However, the more than one million Rohingyas living in Bangladesh are at the root of problems in their host country due to a lack of jobs and future opportunities. This is leading many refugees to seek alternative escape routes by sea to countries like Malaysia, which also have a Muslim majority but are more affluent.
Last week, two groups of Rohingya activists from Myanmar said up to 20 people had died of starvation or thirst on a ship that was stranded at sea for two weeks off the coast of India. The boat with at least 100 people is said to have been in Malaysian waters. Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan Navy rescued 104 Rohingya adrift off the north coast of the Indian Ocean island.
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