AP photos from Asia in 2024 show changes in government, natural disasters and moments of joy

Dozens of Rohingya refugees stood huddled on the remains of a ship days after it capsized at sea, seeing the Indonesian coast guard vessel that was approaching for a miraculous rescue. An Associated Press photographer was on deck to capture the moment, as others were at scenes of political turmoil, sudden tragedy and age-old traditions that played out across Asia in 2024.

AP photojournalists witnessed mass movements across Asia change governments, from student protests in Bangladesh that forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the country, to Korean lawmakers and citizens gathering at the National Assembly to reject President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law. 

They recorded the toll of massive floods that struck countries including Nepal, Indonesia and the Philippines. 

And they documented moments of joy as people gathered in celebrations: a rider in Inner Mongolia performing on horseback at a sports festival, thousands gathering to observe the Hindu festival of Holi and Pope Francis' historic tour of the Indo-Pacific. 

From the overthrow of a government to a leaf delicate cut into a work of art, this gallery records the region's biggest events of the year and the small things that defined life for its people.

Gulshan Begum grieves holding her sons Rihan Zahhor, right and Arhan Zahoor, during the funeral of her husband Zahoor Ahmad, an army porter who was among those killed in a rebel ambush on an army vehicle in Boniyar, north of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Nepal army personnel sort through the debris after a domestic plane belonging to Saurya Airlines crashed just after taking off at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Prabin Ranabhat)

Tombs are submerged at flood-prone Holy Spirit Memorial Park in Masantol, Pampanga province, Philippines after heavy rains from tropical storm Trami ahead of All Saints Day, Oct. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Debris surrounds a titled building a day after a powerful earthquake struck, in Hualien City, eastern Taiwan, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

Waste pickers Salmaa and Usmaan Shekh, right, search for recyclable materials during a heat wave at a garbage dump on the outskirts of Jammu, India, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

An ethnic Tamil war survivor is consoled by others as she cries for her deceased family members during a remembrance ceremony on a small strip of land where thousands of civilians were trapped during the last stages of the country's civil war in Mullivaikkal, Sri Lanka, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

A supporter of Sri Lanka's main opposition holds his shoes in hands as police fire water cannons to disperse them during a protest rally against high taxes and increases in electricity and fuel charges, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jan. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Protesting farmers look at smoke trails made by falling tear gas shells used by the police near Shambhu border that divides northern Punjab and Haryana states, India, Feb.21, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Riot police officers take defensive positions as they clash with protesters rallying against controversial changes to election laws that could further enhance the political influence of outgoing President Joko Widodo, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Students from anti-discrimination movements attack an Awami League supporter in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Nov. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina checks her watch as she waits for the official opening time to cast her vote in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Protesters celebrate at the Parliament House premise after news of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

Mongolian honor guards prepare for a ceremony marking the first session of the newly elected Parliament in front of the Government Palace on Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, July 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese military band members rehearse, before the opening session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, or CPPCC, in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

K-pop band BTS member J-Hope, center, salutes as fellow member Jin holds microphones after being discharged from a mandatory military service outside of an army base in Wonju, South Korea, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un drive a Russian Aurus limousine during their meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Conservative groups supporting South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol rally denouncing opposition parties' lawmakers who demand impeachment of Yoon following his short-lived martial law declaration in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures as he returns to his homeland after landing at RAAF air base Fairbairn in Canberra, Australia, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The Sydney Opera House sails show photos of Britain's King Charles and Queen camilla soon after their arrival in Sydney, Australia, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

An Asaro mudman has a drink of water as Pope Francis gives an address during his meeting with young people at the Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Pope Francis arrives at the Holy Trinity Humanistic School in Baro, near Vanimo, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Hand of a baby juts out of the shawl of an exile Tibetan woman as she attends a short sermon delivered by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on the 15th day of the first Tibetan month in Dharamshala, India, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Indian students of the Swaminarayan Gurukul pray after demonstrating a ritualistic bath called Magh Snan for the media during the auspicious Hindu calendar month of Magh in Ahmedabad, India, Jan. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

A clay idol of Hindu goddess of knowledge, Saraswati, is covered with a piece of cloth is displayed at a potters' place for sale on the eve of its worship on the auspicious day of Vasant Panchami, in Kolkata, India, Feb. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

A farmer holds onto the reins as he slides through mud behind his speeding oxen during a traditional oxen plow race known as Nangarni Spardha at Dervan village in Ratnagiri district, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, Aug. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Models showcase creations by Roma Century during the SS25 China Fashion Week in Beijing, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A participant waves a national flag after climbing to the top of a greased-pole to retrieve prizes as part of Independence Day celebrations, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

An artist performs a horse riding skill in the "Historic ode to the horses", a traditional horse riding show in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A devotee carries a part of an idol of elephant-headed Hindu God Ganesha during immersion in Bay of Bengal, on the final day of Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Chennai, India, Sept.15, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

A swarm of bees attack a drunk man during celebrations marking Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Guwahati, India, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

Sailors of the U.S. navy aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) man the rails at the U.S. navy's Yokosuka base before the ship's final departure from Yokosuka before transiting back to the United States, May 16, 2024, in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A Kashmiri Muslim bride sits along with others during a mass marriage of 51 couples in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, May. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

South Korean Air Force's Black Eagles aerobatic team performs during the first day of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore, Feb. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Hindu devout hits another with burning coconut leaves, sending sparks and embers flying, in a ritual known as Lukat Gni, as part of Balinese Hindu New Year celebrations, in Bali, Indonesia, March 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

A man looks out from a container restaurant near an art sculpture depicting a sleeping Chinese astronaut in the Songzhuang art district in eastern Beijing, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Part of 2500 panda sculptures are displayed at the Hong Kong International Airport during a welcome ceremony of the panda-themed exhibition "Panda Go!" in Hong Kong, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

Customers play with a micro pig, an animal which doesn't get bigger than a corgi dog, even as adults, at a mipig cafe, Jan. 24, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japanese leaf-cutting artist, who goes by the name Lito, holds his freshly cut work featuring a frog with an umbrella, during an interview in Tokyo, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

Women voters show their index fingers marked with an indelible ink after casting their vote in India's national election in Prayagraj, India, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

A Bhutanese woman carrying her child climbs up a ladder to go outside a house near a polling station on the eve of general election in Morung village in Bhutan, Jan. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

The feet of a protestor is seen as borrowers, mostly farmers from Nepal's rural districts, protesting against the alleged excesses of private lenders gather in Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Lightning illuminates the sky behind the gunner on a Thai military armored vehicle, as he keeps watch along the Moei river, under the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on April 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Burnt cars are lined up after unrest that erupted after protests over voting reforms. in Noumea, in New Caledonia, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Nicolas Job)

A woman bikes amid damaged houses in Noto town in the Noto peninsula facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, Jan. 2, 2024, the day after a deadly earthquake. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A man falls from his motorcycle after hitting a water buffalo on his way to work outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Lakshmi, on her 86th birthday, is carried by rescue workers from a residential apartment, flooded due to heavy rains in Bengaluru, India, Oct. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Local residents wade through flooded water at a broken bridge, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)

A rescuer consoles a man who lost his home following Tuesday's landslides at Chooralmala, Wayanad district, Kerala state, India, July 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

A man wades through flood water following heavy downpours in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

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Lead photo: Ethnic Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat as rescuers throw a rope to them off West Aceh, Indonesia, on March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

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