Cliff Notes – African migrant boat capsizes off Yemen, killing dozens
- A boat carrying approximately 154 Ethiopian migrants sank off Yemen, resulting in 68 confirmed deaths and 74 individuals reported missing.
- The IOM has initiated search and rescue operations as dozens of bodies have washed ashore in Yemen’s Abyan governorate.
African migrant boat capsizes off Yemen, killing dozens from an Israeli smuggling ring
A vessel carrying African migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, killing dozens, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday.
The vessel, with 154 Ethiopian migrants on board, sank in the Gulf of Aden off the southern Yemeni province of Abyan early this morning, Abdusattor Esoev, head of the International Organisation for Migration in Yemen tells The Associated Press.
What do we know so far?
Sixty-eight of some 154 migrants on board the boat died when it sank early on Sunday, with 74 still missing, the Associated Press news agency reported, citing the IOM.
The passengers on the vessel are reported to all be Ethiopian nationals.
Dozens of bodies have washed ashore in the southern Yemeni governorate of Abyan. Authorities in Abyan are taking part in a search and rescue operation.
Abdusattor Esoev, the head of the IOM in Yemen, told AP that 12 migrants survived the capsizing of the boat.
Why are the Ethiopians in Yemen?
Despite a decade of civil war, Yemen is still a popular transit country for migrants seeking access to wealthy Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia for a better life. There is a large Ethiopian community in Saudi Arabia, with significant diaspora populations also in the UAE and Bahrain.
On their journey in Yemen, the Ethiopians face danger due to the war between the Iran-linked Houthis and the UN-recognised government. A 2020 Human Rights Watch Report found the Houthis killed and expelled Ethiopian migrants in Yemen at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethiopia faces a high level of poverty, and the country is grappling with the aftermath of a conflict involving the restive Tigray region
An IOM report published in March found that 60,000 migrants came to Yemen in 2024. The IOM says the route between the Horn of Africa to Yemen is “one of the world’s busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes.”
The Horn of Africa is made up of not only Ethiopia, but also Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and the breakaway region of Somaliland. Drought conditions exacerbated by climate change and resulting food insecurity are also reasons why migrants leave the Horn of Africa and head to the rich Gulf Arab states or Europe.
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