At least 76 migrants dead and several missing in Yemen shipwreck

At least 76 migrants died and dozens were considered missing after a vessel carrying mainly Ethiopian migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday (4).

Yemeni security officials reported that 76 bodies were recovered and 32 people rescued from the shipwreck, which occurred in the Gulf of Aden. The UN migration agency reported that 157 people were aboard the vessel.

The previous death toll was 68.

The boat, which sank off the coast of Abyan, was carrying mainly Ethiopian migrants, according to the provincial Security Secretariat and an IOM source.

"The boat was heading towards the coast of Abyan," a provincial police source told AFP.

"Security forces are carrying out a major operation to recover the bodies of a large number of Ethiopian migrants who drowned off the coast of Abyan province while trying to illegally enter Yemeni territory," the provincial government's Security Secretariat said in a statement.

“Many bodies were found scattered across the beaches, suggesting that several victims are missing,” the statement added.

Despite the conflict that has affected Yemen since 2014, irregular migration to the country has not ceased, mainly of people from Ethiopia.

Migrants cross the Bab Al-Mandab Strait that separates Djibouti from Yemen, an important route for international trade, but also for migration and human trafficking.

The oil-rich Gulf monarchies, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are home to a significant foreign workforce from the Indian subcontinent and Africa.

The IOM recorded at least 558 deaths on the Red Sea route last year, 462 of them in boat accidents.

Last month, at least eight people died after traffickers forced migrants off a boat in the Red Sea, according to the UN migration agency.

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