KABUL: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported that at least 68 migrants lost their lives following the capsizing of a boat off the coast of Yemen on Sunday, with 74 others missing. Abdulsttar Asweef, the head of the IOM in Yemen, stated in a media interview that the boat’s occupants were citizens from African countries. He added that the vessel, carrying 154 Ethiopian migrants, capsized near Abyan province. Of those aboard, only 12 migrants have been rescued and the bodies of 54 individuals were found on the shore of the Khanfar area, and 14 additional bodies were discovered in a separate location and transported to a morgue. Authorities have indicated that search operations for survivors are still ongoing. The IOM has emphasized that the influx of illegal migrants from Africa to Yemen is increasing. Every year, thousands of migrants traverse the Bab al-Mandab Strait—separating Djibouti and Eritrea from Yemen—on dilapidated boats to reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in search of work. The organization has described the route from the Horn of Africa to Yemen as “one of the busiest and most dangerous mixed migration routes in the world,” noting that over 60,000 migrants used this route to enter Yemen last year.
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