New Delhi, 17 July 2026: More than 500 people who had set out from Myanmar are feared missing at sea. Two UN agencies have reported that two boats had sunk off the coast of Myanmar due to bad weather. The missing are mainly refugees from the Rohingya community.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) made this announcement in a joint statement. According to these agencies, both boats had departed from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state in the last week of June.
According to the statement, about 250 people were traveling in the first boat. Shortly after departure from Rakhine, this boat went missing and contact with it was lost. There were about 280 people in the second boat. It is feared that this boat had sunk on July 8 near the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) shore of Myanmar.
Agencies have said that no official confirmation has been received yet regarding these incidents and the death toll. However, he is extremely concerned about reports of large number of deaths.
Generally, the Rohingya community does not travel by sea during Chomsa, as the risk of storms and high winds is extremely high during this period. However, due to the ongoing violence in Myanmar and overcrowding and poor conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh, people are choosing the sea route despite the risk to their lives.
attempt to reach malaysia
Agencies have reported that some of these passengers came from refugee camps in Bangladesh. Most of them were going to countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand in search of a better life and used dilapidated wooden boats for this journey. Over the past few years, thousands of Rohingya people, including children, newborns and pregnant women, have lost their lives during such journeys.
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