The United Nations said Friday it feared that 427 Rohingya, Myanmar's persecuted Muslim minority, had perished at sea in two shipwrecks on May 9 and 10 off the Myanmar coast.
If confirmed, this would be the "deadliest tragedy at sea" involving Rohingya refugees so far this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees(UNHCR) said in a statement.
The Rohingya have been persecuted in Myanmar for decades. Thousands of them risk their lives every year by fleeing repression and civil war in their country by sea, often aboard makeshift boats.
"The UN Refugee Agency is gravely concerned about reports of two boat tragedies off the coast of Myanmar earlier this month," a statement read.
UNHCR said it was still working to confirm the exact circumstances surrounding the shipwrecks but preliminary information indicated that a first vessel carrying 267 people sank on May 9, with only 66 people surviving.
A second ship with 247 Rohingya on board capsized on May 10, with just 21 survivors, the UN agency said.
The Rohingya on board were either leaving Bangladesh's huge Cox's Bazar refugee camps or fleeing Myanmar's western state of Rakhine, the statement said.
Rakhine state has been the scene of fierce fighting between the military and the Arakan Army, an ethnic minority rebel group, over control of the territory.
"The dire humanitarian situation, exacerbated by funding cuts, is having a devastating impact on the lives of Rohingya, with more and more resorting to dangerous journeys to seek safety, protection and a dignified life for themselves and their families," said Hai Kyung Jun, who leads UNHCR's regional bureau for Asia and the Pacific.
In 2024, some 657 Rohingya died in the region's waters, according to UNHCR.
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