At least 68 dead after migrant boat capsizes off Yemen’s coast
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The Red Sea has become one of the deadliest migration routes, as smugglers continue to exploit vulnerable migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in search of work in the Gulf.
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Ethiopian migrants disembark from a boat onto the shores of Ras al-Ara, Lahj, Yemen, on July 26, 2019 (AP)
A deadly shipwreck off the coast of Yemen has claimed the lives of at least 68 people, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed Monday, with dozens still unaccounted for and only a handful rescued.
“As of last night, 68 people aboard the boat were killed, but only 12 out of 157 have been rescued so far,” said Abdusattor Esoev, IOM’s chief of mission in Yemen, in remarks to AFP. “The fate of the missing is still unknown.”
The overloaded vessel, reportedly carrying mostly Ethiopian nationals, sank near southern Yemen’s Abyan province, an area long known as a transit hub for migrant smuggling operations. Initial reports from local security sources had placed the death toll at 27, but that figure has since risen sharply.
Wider context
Yemen remains a major waypoint on the perilous “Eastern Route”, a migration corridor used by thousands of East Africans each year hoping to reach the Gulf for work. Migrants, many fleeing violence and instability in Ethiopia, cross the Red Sea from Djibouti to Yemen before continuing overland.
According to Abyan’s security directorate, recovery operations were underway to retrieve what they described as a “significant” number of bodies from the wreck.
This latest tragedy comes just weeks after another deadly incident in the Red Sea, in which at least eight people died after smugglers forced passengers overboard, the IOM reported. The agency has warned that tens of thousands of migrants remain stranded in Yemen.
The Red Sea crossing has become increasingly lethal. In 2023 alone, the IOM documented at least 558 migrant deaths on this route, with 462 linked to shipwrecks.
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