YEMEN: At least 54 migrants lost their lives when a boat carrying around 150 people capsized off Yemen’s coast on Sunday due to bad weather, according to health officials. Dozens are still missing, and rescue operations are ongoing.
The incident occurred off the coast of the Ahwar district in Yemen’s southern Abyan province on the Arabian Sea. Abdul Qadir Bajameel, a provincial health official, reported that 10 survivors were rescued, including nine Ethiopians and one Yemeni. However, many others remain unaccounted for.
Rescue teams are still searching for survivors, with medics confirming that efforts are underway. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has highlighted the growing number of irregular migrants coming to Yemen from Africa. Migrants cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which separates Djibouti and Eritrea from Yemen, every year, often on unsafe boats, in hopes of reaching Saudi Arabia or other Gulf countries to find work. The IOM refers to this migration route as “one of the world’s busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes.”
Last year, the IOM recorded over 60,000 migrants arriving in Yemen.
