A boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, leaving at least 49 dead and 140 missing, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.
The boat was carrying some 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from the northern coast of Somalia on the 320-kilometer (200-mile) journey across the Gulf of Aden when it sank Monday off Yemen’s southern coast, the IOM said in a statement.
It said search efforts were continuing and so far 71 had been rescued. Among the dead were 31 women and six children, it said.
Yemen is a major route for migrants from the East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries for work. Despite a nearly decadelong civil war in Yemen, the number of migrants arriving annually tripled from 2021 to 2023, soaring from about 27,000 to over 90,000, the IOM said last month. Around 380,000 migrants are currently in Yemen, according to the agency.
