13 Killed After Boat Carrying Migrants Sinks Off Yemen's Coast

Cairo: In a tragic incident, a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, leaving more than two dozen people dead or missing, the UN migration agency said Sunday, the latest in a string of shipwrecks that have left scores dead.

Despite a nearly decade-long civil war, Yemen — which borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast — remains a major route for migrants from East Africa trying to reach wealthy Gulf countries for work.

The vessel was carrying 25 Ethiopian migrants and the boat captain and his assistant, both Yemeni, when it capsized Tuesday off the province of Taiz, the International Organisation for Migration said in a statement. The bodies of 11 men and two women were recovered along the shore of Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, while the 14 others — including the two Yemenis — remain missing.

The migrants departed from Djibouti, IOM said.

“This latest tragedy is a stark reminder of the perils faced by migrants on this route,” said Matt Huber, IOM's acting chief in Yemen. “Every life lost in these dangerous waters is one too many, and it is imperative that we do not normalise these devastating losses." 

Number of Migrants to Yemen Has Tripled

According to the agency, the number of migrants arriving in Yemen has tripled in recent years, from about 27,000 in 2021 to more than 97,200 last year, the IOM said, and about 380,000 migrants are currently in the conflict-ridden country.

To reach Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden. Over the past decade, at least 2,082 migrants disappeared along the route, including 693 who drowned, the IOM said.

In June, at least 49 migrants were killed in a shipwreck off Yemen's southern coast that also left 140 missing, according to the IOM. Another 62 migrants died in two separate shipwrecks off the coast of Djibouti in April as they tried to reach Yemen. 

In 2023, the IOM recorded over 97,200 arrivals in Yemen in 2023, surpassing the previous year's numbers. People who are unable to reach Yemen often face such threats to their safety, as the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country has been mired in civil war for nearly 10 years. Many people are attempting to reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations for employment as labourers or domestic workers.

(With inputs from Agencies)