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At least 68 migrants have died after a boat carrying around 157 people capsized in rough seas off the coast of southern Yemen, authorities confirmed.
The tragedy occurred near the province of Abyan on Sunday. Abdusattor Esoev, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief in Yemen, said that just 12 people had been rescued so far, with dozens still missing. Most of the victims are believed to be Ethiopian nationals.
The boat was traveling along a well-known but extremely dangerous migration route from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, commonly used by migrants seeking work in Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia. Yemen, despite its ongoing civil war, remains a major transit point for these perilous journeys.
Security officials in Abyan said a large-scale search-and-rescue operation is underway, with bodies recovered across a wide stretch of coastline.
“This route is heavily exploited by people smugglers,” Esoev said. “We urge all governments to improve legal migration pathways so people don’t have to risk their lives at sea or fall into the hands of traffickers.”
The IOM has long warned of worsening conditions on this migration route. Migrants arriving in Yemen report increasingly reckless behavior by smugglers—such as launching boats during dangerous weather to avoid detection by patrols.
In March, two similar incidents off Yemen’s Dhubab coast left nearly all passengers missing, further highlighting the risks faced by migrants. More than 60,000 migrants have arrived in Yemen so far in 2024 alone, despite the threats.
Over the past decade, the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has recorded more than 3,400 deaths along this route—1,400 of them from drowning.
Yemen continues to be gripped by a decade-long civil war, with the Houthi rebel group controlling much of the country’s northwest since ousting the internationally recognized government from the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
