The year was the worst for Rohingya at sea in years, with 180 people likely drowned.

DHAKA (Reuters) – The drowning of a boat carrying 180 Rohingya Muslims will make 2022 one of the deadliest years for the minority as refugees try to leave severe conditions in camps in Bangladesh, the United Nations refugee agency said on Monday.

Nearly one million Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar are living in overcrowded facilities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, including tens of thousands who fled their native country following a brutal campaign by the Myanmar military in 2017.

Most Rohingya are refused citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and are seen as illegal South Asian immigrants.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced over the weekend that it suspected a boat that left Bangladesh at the end of November was lost at sea, with all 180 people on board presumed dead.

According to the UNHCR, the ship, which was not seaworthy, may have begun to fracture in early December before losing touch.

Already this year, about 200 Rohingya are presumed dead or missing at sea. “We hope beyond hope that the 180 people who have gone missing are still alive somewhere out there,” UNHCR spokeswoman Babar Baloch said.

According to the UNHCR, approximately 900 Rohingya perished or went missing between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in 2013, and over 700 in 2014.

“One of the worst years for dead and missing after 2013 and 2014,” Baloch said of 2022, adding that the number of people fleeing has returned to pre-COVID-19 levels.

“Trends reveal that over 2,400 individuals tried the perilous sea crossings in 2020, with more than 200 people killed or missing.”

According to rights groups, the number of Rohingya fleeing Bangladesh in boats has increased more than fivefold this year compared to last.

Baloch said it was unclear where the boat with 180 people on board went missing, or whether the removal of COVID restrictions in Southeast Asia, a popular destination for Rohingya, was causing the influx of refugees.

Sayedur Rahman, 38, who escaped to Malaysia from Myanmar in 2012, stated his wife, two kids aged 17 and 13, and a 12-year-old daughter were among the missing.

“In 2017, my family migrated to Bangladesh to save their life,” Rahman added, alluding to the Rohingya exodus from Myanmar that year.

“But they’re all gone now… I’m upset right now “Rahman stated. “We Rohingya are allowed to perish… on land and at water. Everywhere.”

Earlier this month, two Myanmar Rohingya activist organisations claimed that up to 20 people perished of starvation or dehydration aboard a different boat that was trapped at sea for two weeks off India’s coast, according to the UNHCR. The boat was thought to be in Malaysian seas with at least 100 passengers on board.

Some boats have made land or been rescued at sea amid the predicted casualties.

According to a statement issued by the International Organization for Migration on Monday, 57 Rohingya males disembarked in Indonesia’s Aceh Besar area early on December 25 with the assistance of local community members. It is thought that the male-only boat left Bangladesh and drifted at sea for about a month.

Officials in Indonesia did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In November, two boats carrying 230 Rohingya migrants, including women and children, arrived on the shores of Indonesia’s Aceh region, while the Sri Lankan navy rescued 104 Rohingya drifting off the Indian Ocean island’s northern coast this month.