At least 68 African migrants killed after boat capsizes off Yemen coast, U.N. says

CAIRO — A boat capsized Sunday in waters off Yemen’s coast leaving 68 African migrants dead and 74 others missing, the U.N.’s migration agency said.

The tragedy was the latest in a series of shipwrecks off Yemen that have killed hundreds of African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in hopes of reaching the wealthy Gulf Arab countries.

The vessel, with 154 Ethiopian migrants on board, sank in the Gulf of Aden off the southern Yemeni province of Abyan early Sunday, Abdusattor Esoev, head of the International Organization for Migration in Yemen told The Associated Press.

He said the bodies of 54 migrants washed ashore in the district of Khanfar, and 14 others were found dead and taken to a hospital morgue in Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan on Yemen’s southern coast.

Only 12 migrants survived the shipwreck, and the rest were missing and presumed dead, Esoev said.

In a statement, the Abyan security directorate described a massive search-and-rescue operation given the large number of dead and missing migrants. It said many dead bodies were found scattered across a wide area of the shore.

Despite more than a decade of civil war, Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach the Gulf Arab countries for work. Migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.

Hundreds of migrants have died or gone missing in shipwrecks off Yemen in recent months, including in March when two migrants died and 186 others were missing after four boats capsized off Yemen and Djibouti, according to the IOM.

More than 60,000 migrants arrived in Yemen in 2024, down from 97,200 in 2023, probably because of greater patrolling of the waters, according to an IOM report in March.