The family of 24-year-old Siraz Ullah is grappling with agonizing uncertainty after he disappeared at sea alongside an estimated 500 other Rohingya refugees. In his final voice message to relatives, a fearful Siraz expressed his desperation, stating, “I can’t tolerate this life,” before asking for prayers as he boarded a boat bound for Malaysia in late June. It has been a month since that final communication on June 22, and the vessel remains missing.
Siraz had long harbored a dream of becoming a professional footballer. Decades of persecution and military violence have left an estimated 550,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar – from a population thought to be about 1.4 million a decade ago. More than 1 million Rohingya are now living as refugees in Bangladesh, confined to heavily policed camps. His nephew, Mumtaz Ullah, noted that the two grew up together, describing their relationship as closer to brothers than uncle and nephew. Siraz had previously won awards as a striker for Rohingya teams, though his opportunities were severely curtailed by the restrictive conditions of refugee camps in Bangladesh.
The journey was not Siraz’s first attempt to find a better life. Ullah first left Myanmar in 2017, when a military campaign of violence expelled 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh. He lived there with his nephew Mumtaz. In 2022, he previously tried to reach Malaysia by boat, only for the vessel to be caught in a storm. Following that incident, he was imprisoned by Myanmar authorities and required his family to pay 2.9 million Myanmar kyat, approximately £1,000, for his release. The current crisis stems from a broader, long-standing pattern of desperation; since the early 2000s, criminal networks have exploited the Rohingya, who were stripped of citizenship by Myanmar in 1982 and face limited prospects for work or education in Bangladesh.
The UN believes that two boats, carrying 250 and 280 people respectively, capsized off the Myanmar coast in recent weeks. While there have been rumors that the boat carrying Siraz may have been hijacked by rival traffickers, no concrete information has emerged. A human rights researcher noted that while many travel willingly, others are kidnapped from Myanmar and Bangladesh, held in detention camps until families pay ransoms to secure their passage.
Conditions in the region have worsened significantly over the past two years, with more than 150,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh due to intense fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army. Both factions have faced accusations of murder and forced labor. Despite his family’s pleas not to undertake the perilous journey, Siraz felt he had no other option. “We still hope that Siraz is alive, we pray that one day he will come home,” said Mumtaz.
‘I can’t tolerate this life,’ said the 24-year-old in his last voice message to his relatives. Attacked by the military, a rebel army and criminal gangs, Siraz Ullah risked all for a better future
“Please pray for me and for all the passengers. We are risking our lives, but there is nothing else we can do,” he said in the voice message. “I can’t tolerate this life.”
