Rohingya refugee Rahila Begum drifted for two days in the Andaman Sea this month, clinging to a splinter of wood after her overcrowded boat capsized, in a disaster that left about 250 people missing and feared dead, reports Reuters.
She is among thousands of Rohingya Muslims who each year risk hunger, trafficking and death at sea to escape bleak conditions in refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, hoping to reach countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
Despite frequent reports of fatalities from starvation or maritime accidents, the number attempting the crossing is rising as shrinking food rations and dwindling international aid deepen hardship in the camps.
“I never thought I would survive,” said Begum, 26, speaking weakly as she sat wrapped in a blanket inside her parents’ makeshift shelter of tarpaulin sheets. “It felt like the end of my life.”
Begum was rescued by a passing Bangladeshi oil tanker after the vessel she boarded, carrying nearly 300 people bound for Malaysia, sank earlier this month. She was later handed over to the Coast Guard.
Bangladesh’s coastal district of Cox’s Bazar hosts nearly 1.2 million Rohingya, most of whom fled violence and persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where they are widely regarded as outsiders.
Years of confinement in camps, restrictions on work, limited access to education and cuts to food assistance have left many seeing no future in Bangladesh, while returning to Myanmar remains unsafe.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said nearly 900 Rohingya were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal in 2025, the deadliest year on record for such crossings, with more than 6,500 attempting the journey.
Between January and mid-April this year, more than 2,800 Rohingya have already attempted to leave by sea, the agency said.
“The Rohingya population is very young and aspires to a better life, but that hope is increasingly turning into desperation,” said Astrid Castelein, a UNHCR official. “That is why youths and families are deciding to take these dangerous boat journeys.”
Authorities have increased coastal patrols and tightened surveillance in and around the camps to disrupt trafficking networks, a Bangladeshi official said on condition of anonymity, but acknowledged that enforcement remains difficult given the scale of demand.
Food insecurity is a major driver.
This month, the World Food Programme began distributing rations based on household earning capacity, with monthly allocations ranging from $12 per person for the most vulnerable to $7 for those considered food insecure. Households led by children, women or elderly members receive the highest support.
“My ration has been cut from $12 to $7 because I have an 18 year old son,” said Mohammed Rafiq, a 50-year-old father of four. “But does he earn anything?”
He said the allowance now covers only rice and cooking oil, leaving no room for fish or meat.
“We are living in inhumane conditions,” he added. “Even if my children leave by sea one day, I would not be surprised.”
Begum, who fled Myanmar in 2017 during a military crackdown that drove more than 730,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, said her situation worsened after her marriage four years ago.
“I was beaten because I could not have children. I knew I had to flee. There was no life left for me here,” she said, adding that her husband refused to take her back.
Traffickers often exploit such desperation, and some are Rohingya themselves.
A 24-year-old trafficker who identified himself as Faisal said he arranged passage for 20 people, including three women and two children, on the boat that later sank. None survived, he said.
He admitted avoiding calls from victims’ families. “They keep calling again and again … sometimes I just switch off my phone,” he said.
Faisal said he first travelled to Malaysia in 2018 using traffickers before returning to the camps and entering the trade himself. He was jailed in Bangladesh for a year in 2020 in a human trafficking case but resumed his activities after release.
Reuters could not independently verify his account.
Sea departures typically peak during calmer winter months, but Faisal said worsening conditions are pushing people to attempt the journey even in riskier periods.
“They come to us asking for a way out,” he said. “They know the risks – some make it, some are arrested, some die.”
