The United Nations International Organization for Migration has confirmed that at least 68 African refugees and migrants have died and 74 others remain missing after a boat capsized off the coast of Yemen.
The Head of the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen, Abdusattor Esoev, told journalists that the boat, with 154 Ethiopian citizens aboard, capsized off Yemen’s province of Abyan.
Abdusattor 12 people survived the shipwreck and the bodies of 54 refugees and migrants were washed ashore in the district of Khanfar and 14 others were found dead at a different location and taken to a Hospital Mortuary and Yemeni health authorities earlier said that 54 people had died.
The Director of the Health office in Zanzibar, Abdul Qader Bajamil, said that authorities were making arrangements to bury the victims near the city of Shaqra, while search opportunities continued amid difficult conditions.
The waterways between Yemen and the Horn of Africa are a common but perilous route for refugees and migrants traveling in both directions. The area saw a spike in Yemenis fleeing the country after the civil war broke out in 2014.
This comes after Houthi rebels and government forces reached a truce deal in April 2022 that has resulted in a decrease in violence and the slight easing of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Meanwhile, some of those fleeing conflict in Africa, particularly in Somalia and Ethiopia, have sought refuge in Yemen or have sought to travel through the country to the more prosperous Gulf countries and the route remains one of the busiest and most perilous migration routes in the world.
It is reported that in order to reach Yemen, people are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden.
According to the International Organization for Migration more than 60,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen in 2024, marking a significant drop from the previous year’s total of 97,200.
Additional Reporting from Associated Press
