At least 13 people have died and 14 others are missing after a migrant boat sank off the coast of Yemen, a UN agency said on Sunday (August 25, 2024). It is the latest disaster on the dangerous migration route.
“Thirteen people have tragically died and 14 others are missing after a migrant boat capsized off the coast of Yemen’s Taiz province on Tuesday,” the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.
According to the UN agency, “the ship had left Djibouti carrying 25 Ethiopian migrants and two Yemeni nationals.”
“The deceased include 11 men and two women, while search operations are ongoing for the remaining missing, including the Yemeni captain and his assistant,” IOM said.
It said the cause of the ship’s sinking was still unclear.
“This latest tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers migrants face on this route,” said Matt Huber, acting head of the IOM mission in Yemen.
Each year thousands of migrants try to escape conflict, natural disasters or poor economic prospects from the Horn of Africa by crossing the Red Sea to reach the oil-rich Gulf.
Also read: At least 49 migrants dead, 140 missing off Yemen coast
The IOM recorded the arrival of more than 97,200 migrants to Yemen in 2023, higher than the number of the previous year.
The latest shipwreck follows similar incidents off the coast of Yemen in June and July that killed dozens of people.
Migrants arriving in Yemen often face greater threats to their safety, as the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country has been mired in civil war for nearly a decade.
Many are trying to go to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries, where they can find employment as laborers or domestic servants.