Vessels are sailing off Yemen coast on December 21, 2023 [Mati Milstein/NurPhoto via Getty Images]
Vessels are sailing off Yemen coast on December 21, 2023 [Mati Milstein/NurPhoto via Getty Images]
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) confirmed that more than 180 migrants were missing and feared dead after two boats capsized in rough seas off the coast of Yemen on Thursday.
The IOM said that the two boast were carrying migrants from the Horn of Africa and had capsized off the coast of Yemen’s Dhubab district in Ta’iz Governorate.
IOM Spokesperson Tamim Eleian explained that the boats capsized after smugglers failed to heed weather warnings issued by Yemen’s Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority, which had advised against travel due to strong winds and high waves: “While two Yemeni crew members were rescued, all passengers and the remaining crew are feared dead, with no bodies recovered so far.”
Earlier on Friday, the organisation posted on its website that at least 186 people were missing after four migrant boats capsized off the coast of Yemen and Djibouti overnight, referring to the same incident.
The IOM, which tracks migrants who have died or gone missing along the migration routes, shared that 558 people lost their lives on the route between the Horn of Africa and Yemen last year.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people leave the chronically unstable Horn of Africa region in search of better economic conditions in Gulf countries via what is known as the Eastern Route, which the IOM describes as “one of the busiest and most dangerous” migration corridors in the world.
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