At least 54 migrants tragically lost their lives when a boat carrying approximately 150 people sank off Yemen’s coast amid treacherous weather conditions on Sunday.
Security sources confirmed that the ill-fated vessel tragically capsized off the Ahwar district, a coastal area within Yemen’s southern Abyan province on the Arabian Sea.
A provincial health official, Abdul Qadir Bajameel, stated that only ten of the around 150 people on board were successfully rescued from the wreckage of the capsized vessel.
Among the survivors were nine Ethiopian nationals and a single Yemeni, while dozens of other individuals from the boat remain tragically unaccounted for.
Two medical professionals said that courageous rescue crews were still actively searching for survivors and bodies in the aftermath of the devastating maritime disaster.
The International Organization for Migration has reported that Yemen continues to witness a significant and sustained increase in the influx of irregular migrants arriving from various parts of Africa.
These migrants attempt to cross the perilous Bab al-Mandab strait each year on flimsy boats, desperately hoping to reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to find work.
The IOM officially describes this specific route from the Horn of Africa to Yemen as one of the world’s most perilous and busiest mixed migration routes.
This massive influx is part of a larger trend, with the organization recording the arrival of more than 60,000 migrants in Yemen last year alone.
