The United Nations refugee agency reported on Friday that nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were dead or missing in shipwrecks in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal throughout 2025, making it the deadliest year on record for the persecuted Muslim minority fleeing Myanmar. The figure was announced by UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch at a press briefing in Geneva, following a further deadly shipwreck earlier in April 2026. The Rohingya (a stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar subjected to decades of persecution) routinely attempt dangerous sea crossings aboard overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels, often operated by people-trafficking networks, in search of safety and better living conditions in countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia.