Cox's Bazar (Bangladesh) (AFP) – Rahela Begum survived the horrors of war in Myanmar and life in the world's largest refugee camp in Bangladesh -- only to end up drifting at sea, clinging to a wooden plank.
The 25-year-old boarded a boat bound for Malaysia in April, part of a wave of Rohingya refugees attempting dangerous sea crossings that led to a record number of deaths in 2025.She spent two days and a night adrift in the Andaman Sea off Bangladesh after the overcrowded vessel carrying about 280 people sank following four days of travel."I managed to find a wooden plank, which I clung to for two days and one night," Begum said, noting she eventually caught the attention of a passing rescue ship."I was floating like a dead body, and after great difficulty managed to raise my head slightly."
Nearly 900 Rohingya were reported dead or missing at sea in 2025, the deadliest year on record © Munir UZ ZAMAN / AFP
Thousands of Rohingya have tried in recent years to leave Cox's Bazar, where more than a million refugees forced to flee war-torn Myanmar's Rakhine state live in squalid conditions.Nearly 900 Rohingya were reported dead or missing at sea in 2025, the deadliest year on record, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR. And deaths have continued to mount in 2026.Begum arrived in Cox's Bazar in 2017 and in April joined the still growing exodus of refugees to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand as conditions in the camps deteriorated.DesperationBangladesh bars most refugees from leaving the camps or working, giving Begum little choice but to attempt to flee by sea, she said.A trafficker who promised to treat her "like his own sister" took her to Teknaf, about an hour's drive from Cox's Bazar, and she boarded a crowded trawler on April 4.
