Over 50 migrants die as boat sinks off Yemen coast, dozens still missing
A boat capsized Sunday in waters off of Yemen’s coast leaving 68 African migrants dead and 74 others missing, the UN’s migration agency said.
The tragedy was the latest in a series of shipwrecks off Yemen that have killed hundreds of African migrants hoping to reach the wealthy Gulf Arab countries.
Only 12 migrants survived the shipwreck, and the rest were missing and presumed dead, Esoev said.
Despite more than a decade of civil war, Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach the Gulf Arab countries for work. Migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.
Hundreds of migrants have died or gone missing in shipwrecks off Yemen in recent months, including in March when two migrants died and 186 others were missing after four boats capsized off Yemen and Djibouti, according to the IOM.
