More than 60 migrants have died after a boat sank off the coast of Yemen. The boat was carrying around 157 people when it capsized due to bad weather. The accident happened near the southern province of Abyan on Sunday.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), only 12 people have been rescued so far. Many others are still missing. Most of those who died are believed to be from Ethiopia. Yemen is often used by migrants from East Africa as a transit point to reach Gulf countries in search of work.
Officials in Abyan said a large search-and-rescue mission was launched immediately. They have found many bodies across a wide part of the shoreline. The IOM’s Yemen head, Abdusattor Esoev, said the boat was traveling on a dangerous route often used by smugglers.
He explained that migrants take this risky path because they do not have legal ways to move safely. “What we are asking for,” he said, “is for governments to make safer and legal options available. That way, people don’t have to trust smugglers and take these deadly journeys.”
Why do migrants keep risking their lives to travel this route?
Many of them are desperate to find jobs and escape poverty. Even though they know it’s dangerous, they believe it is their only chance for a better life. More than 60,000 migrants have arrived in Yemen already this year, according to the IOM.
The journey from the Horn of Africa, encompassing Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, to Yemen is one of the busiest and most perilous. The IOM says it has recorded more than 3,400 deaths and disappearances on this route in the past 10 years. About 1,400 of those were drownings.
In March, a similar tragedy happened when two boats carrying 180 migrants sank off Yemen’s Dhubab district. Only two crew members survived. Smugglers often take bigger risks now to avoid patrol boats, even sending people out in bad weather.
Yemen is still facing a long-running civil war that started over ten years ago. The Houthi group controls much of the northwest, including the capital, Sanaa, while the internationally recognized government is based elsewhere. This unstable situation makes rescue operations even harder.