68 African migrants die, dozens missing after overloaded boat capsizes

At least 68 African migrants have lost their lives and 74 more remain unaccounted for after a boat carrying them capsized off the coast of Yemen on Sunday, according to the UN’s migration agency.

Abdusattor Esoev, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen, told the Associated Press that the vessel had been carrying 154 Ethiopian nationals when it overturned near Abyan province.

Twelve people survived the disaster. Esoev said the bodies of 54 victims were recovered along the Khanfar district shoreline, while 14 others were found in a different location and transferred to a hospital morgue.

Local medics confirmed that rescue teams were still combing the waters in search of possible survivors.

The IOM noted that Yemen continues to see a sharp rise in irregular migration from Africa. Thousands attempt the dangerous sea journey each year across the Bab al-Mandab strait—linking Djibouti and Eritrea to Yemen—in hopes of reaching Saudi Arabia or other Gulf nations to find work.

The agency has described the Horn of Africa–Yemen route as “one of the world’s busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes.” Last year, it recorded over 60,000 migrant arrivals in Yemen.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)