By Enyichukwu Enemanna
No fewer than 49 migrants have been confirmed dead, while 140 others are missing after a boat carrying 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from the northern coast of Somalia capsized off the coast of Yemen, United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.
The boat which was on a 200-mile journey across the Gulf of Aden sank on Monday in the southern coast of Yemen, the U.N. agency said in a statement.
It said search efforts were ongoing and that so far, 71 had been rescued.
31 women and six children are among the dead, the statement says.
Yemen is a major route for migrants from the East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries in search of work.
Despite a nearly civil war that has lasted over a decade in Yemen, the number of migrants arriving annually tripled from 2021 to 2023, soaring to over 90,000 from about 27,000, the International Organization for Migration said last month.
To reach Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden.
Heritage Times HT reports that in April, at least 62 people died in two shipwrecks off the coast of Djibouti as they tried to reach Yemen. Also, the U.N. agency said at least 1,860 people had died or disappeared along the route, including 480 who drowned.
Monday’s sinking was “another reminder of the urgent need to work together to address urgent migration challenges and ensure the safety and security of migrants along migration routes,” said Mohammedali Abunajela, a spokesman for IOM.
