Mafatlal, 65, a Rohingya refugee, told researchers he did not initially allow his son to “risk his life” by leaving the relative safety of their refugee camp to cross the Bay of Bengal in the northern Indian Ocean. Death is likelier than ever for South Asian migrants who travel across raging seas in dire uncertainty – yet the number who try to migrate has remained consistent, particularly for the Rohingya.
“He crossed the sea over to Malaysia and is working in the fishing market there”, Mafatlal said. “Neither I nor my wife have any hope left for us to go back [to Myanmar], but it gives us some hope to see that [our] son is at least able to work.”
Many others aren’t as lucky. In January 2022, seven Bangladeshi nationals died of hypothermia while trying to reach Italy in a boat with 273 other migrants from Bangladesh and Egypt. With three people aboard already dead, the boat was intercepted at the Italian island of Lampedusa. Another four passengers later died because of the extreme cold.
