Not less than 68 African migrants killed after boat capsizes off Yemen coast, U.N. says

CAIRO — A ship capsized Sunday in waters off Yemen’s coast leaving 68 African migrants lifeless and 74 others lacking, the U.N.’s migration company stated.

The tragedy was the newest in a collection of shipwrecks off Yemen which have killed tons of of African migrants fleeing battle and poverty in hopes of reaching the rich Gulf Arab international locations.

The vessel, with 154 Ethiopian migrants on board, sank within the Gulf of Aden off the southern Yemeni province of Abyan early Sunday, Abdusattor Esoev, head of the Worldwide Group for Migration in Yemen informed The Related Press.

He stated the our bodies of 54 migrants washed ashore within the district of Khanfar, and 14 others have been discovered lifeless and brought to a hospital morgue in Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan on Yemen’s southern coast.

Solely 12 migrants survived the shipwreck, and the remainder have been lacking and presumed lifeless, Esoev stated.

In an announcement, the Abyan safety directorate described an enormous search-and-rescue operation given the big variety of lifeless and lacking migrants. It stated many lifeless our bodies have been discovered scattered throughout a large space of the shore.

Regardless of greater than a decade of civil battle, Yemen is a significant route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa attempting to achieve the Gulf Arab international locations for work. Migrants are taken by smugglers on usually harmful, overcrowded boats throughout the Purple Sea or Gulf of Aden.

Tons of of migrants have died or gone lacking in shipwrecks off Yemen in current months, together with in March when two migrants died and 186 others have been lacking after 4 boats capsized off Yemen and Djibouti, in keeping with the IOM.

Greater than 60,000 migrants arrived in Yemen in 2024, down from 97,200 in 2023, most likely due to higher patrolling of the waters, in keeping with an IOM report in March.