Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
05-08-2025
SANA’A: At least 68 migrants have died after a boat with about 157 people on board sank off the coast of Yemen in bad weather.
The vessel capsized off Yemen’s southern province of Abyan on Sunday, the Yemen chief for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told media. He said 12 people had been rescued but dozens were unaccounted for.
Most of the victims are believed to be Ethiopian nationals, said the IOM.
Yemen is a major pathway for migrants from the Horn of Africa travelling to Gulf States in search of work. The IOM estimates that hundreds have died or gone missing in shipwrecks in recent months.
Abyan security officials said a large search-and-rescue mission had been launched and many bodies had been found across a wide area of shoreline.
IOM Yemen chief Abdusattor Esoev said the boat was on a dangerous route in the vast coastal area often used by people smugglers.
Esoev also emphasized the importance of strengthening legal safeguards for migrants, to prevent them from being exploited by smugglers.
“What we are advocating for all member states… is to enhance their regular pathways so people can take legal ways in order to migrate, instead of being trapped or deceived by smugglers and taking those dangerous journeys,” he said.
The IOM previously described the journey from the Horn of Africa, composed of Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea, to Yemen as “one of the busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes”. For many the final destination is Saudi Arabia.
In March, two boats carrying more than 180 migrants sank off the coast of Yemen’s Dhubab district due to rough seas, with only two crew members rescued.
Migrants arriving at Migrant Response Points in Yemen have also reported people-smugglers becoming more reckless by knowingly sending boats into dangerous conditions to avoid patrols, according to an IOM report.
Despite the risks, many migrants continue to make the trip, with more than 60,000 arriving in Yemen in 2024 alone.
In the last decade, the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project recorded more than 3,400 deaths and missing people along the route, 1,400 of those deaths were due to drowning. Yemen remains engulfed in a devastating civil war which has lasted more than a decade. The Iran-backed Houthi group has controlled much of north-western Yemen since 2014, when they ousted the internationally-recognized government from the capital, Sanaa.
Despite a decade of civil war, Yemen is still a popular transit country for migrants seeking access to wealthy Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia for a better life. There is a large Ethiopian community in Saudi Arabia, with significant diaspora populations also in the UAE and Bahrain.
On their journey in Yemen, the Ethiopians face danger due to the war between the Iran-linked Houthis and the UN-recognized government. A 2020 Human Rights Watch Report found the Houthis killed and expelled Ethiopian migrants in Yemen at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethiopia faces a high level of poverty, and the country is grappling with the aftermath of a conflict involving the restive Tigray region
An IOM report published in March found that 60,000 migrants came to Yemen in 2024. The IOM says the route between the Horn of Africa to Yemen is “one of the world’s busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes.”
The Horn of Africa is made up of not only Ethiopia, but also Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea and the breakaway region of Somaliland. Drought conditions exacerbated by climate change and resulting food insecurity are also reasons why migrants leave the Horn of Africa and head to the rich Gulf Arab states or Europe. (Int’l News Desk)
