The possible sinking of a boat in recent weeks with 180 Rohingya Muslims on board could make 2022 one of the deadliest years at sea in almost a decade for the community, a U.N. agency said, as refugees try to flee desperate conditions in Bangladesh camps.
Nearly 1 million Rohingya from Myanmar are living in crowded facilities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, including tens of thousands who fled their home country after its military conducted a deadly crackdown in 2017.
The number of Rohingya leaving Bangladesh in boats this year has jumped more than fivefold from a year earlier to nearly 2,400, rights groups estimate. It is not clear if the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in Southeast Asia, a favored destination, has led to the rush of people.