17 Rohingya Refugees Pass Away Off Myanmar in a Boat Tragedie

17 Rohingya Refugees Pass Away Off Myanmar in a Boat Tragedie

Every year, thousands of Rohingya put their lives in danger by embarking on dangerous sea voyages from facilities in Bangladesh and Myanmar to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Rescuers said Thursday that at least 17 people perished this week when a boat carrying Rohingya migrants from Myanmar's Rakhine province capsized at sea.

Every year, thousands of Rohingya put their lives in danger by embarking on risky sea voyages from camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar to Malaysia and Indonesia, countries with a majority of Muslims.

More than 50 people were believed to be on the boat bound for Malaysia when it ran into problems in rough seas on Sunday, according to Byar La, a rescuer 

It stretches from the Sittwe, Myanmar, Shwe Yaung Metta Organisation. "We counted 17 dead bodies," he told AFP as of yesterday. "We discovered eight living males. They have been taken by police for interrogation.

Although the precise number on board is unknown, he added, rescuers are still looking for the missing. Around 600,000 Rohingya Muslims reside in Rakhine in the Buddhist-majority nation of Myanmar; they are regarded as immigrants from Bangladesh and are thus denied citizenship and freedom of movement.

dangerous sea voyages

According to data released in January by the UN agency for refugees, more than 3,500 Rohingya tried to get over the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in 39 different vessels in 2022, an increase from 700 the year before.

According to the UNHCR, at least 348 Rohingya perished or went missing at sea last year, prompting a demand for a regional action to prevent other drownings. Calls for maritime authorities in the area "to assist and remove people in difficulty have gone unheeded with many ships adrift for weeks," according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Rohingya population's living circumstances in Rakhine State are compared to "apartheid" by Amnesty International. Around 750,000 Rohingya were forced to depart Rakhine for Bangladesh in 2017 as a result of a military campaign in Myanmar as a result of extensive reports of rape, murder, and burning.

Following the massive exodus, Myanmar is completing tasks charged with extermination in the highest court of the UN. The process of starting to return Rohingya refugees to their country of origin has been discussed between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

In July, a top US rights ambassador in Bangladesh stated that it is still hazardous for refugees of the ethnic Rohingya to return to Myanmar. The United Nations food agency was compelled by funding reductions to reduce meals to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh twice this year.

After a storm devastated Rakhine in May, foreign humanitarian attempts have been obstructed by the military regime. Since Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government was overthrown by a military coup in February 2021, ending its brief stint of democracy, Myanmar has been in anarchy.