Andaman Sea:
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) reported that a boat carrying approximately 250 individuals, primarily Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals, is feared to have capsized in the Andaman Sea.
- The Andaman Sea has become one of the deadliest maritime migration routes in the world. Thousands of Rohingya refugees (a stateless Muslim minority from Myanmar’s Rakhine State) regularly undertake dangerous journeys across the Andaman Sea from Bangladesh or Myanmar.
- They typically embark on unseaworthy vessels between November and April (when the seas are relatively calm) in an attempt to reach Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and Malaysia for asylum and better economic opportunities.
- The Andaman Sea is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean, bordered by Myanmar and Thailand to the north and east, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra to the south, and separated from the Bay of Bengal by India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the west.
- Its southern end narrows into the Strait of Malacca, a vital global trade corridor linking the Indian Ocean with the Pacific.
- Geographically, it includes the Gulf of Martaban in the north and receives major rivers like the Irrawaddy, Salween, and Sittang, while its seafloor remains tectonically active along the Burma–Sunda plate boundary.
- Strategically and economically, the sea is crucial for global shipping, provides India with significant maritime leverage through the Andaman and Nicobar Command, and supports rich marine biodiversity and fisheries, though these resources face increasing environmental pressures.
