More than 50 immigrants died when a ship carrying about 150 people sank off the coast of Yemen in bad weather Sunday.
According to local authorities, the ship was tilted in Abyan, the southern province of Yemen, with only 10 people rescued and dozens of people still missing.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said many of the victims were considered Ethiopian nationals, which the group called the incident “heartbreaking.”
Yemen remains the main route for migrants from the Horn of Africa to seek employment for immigration, with IOM estimated that hundreds of people died or disappeared in shipwrecks in recent months.
IOM’s Yemen chief Abdusattor Esoev told the Associated Press that the bodies of 54 immigrants were found in the southern Khanfar area, and 14 other people were taken to a hospital morgue in Singibal, the capital of Abyan province.
According to the Associated Press, the Abyan Security Security issued a statement on a large-scale search and rescue mission that said many bodies were found in the wide range of coastlines.
An IOM spokesman said the agency was “deeply saddened” by the “tragic loss of life” and stressed the need for more safeguards for immigrants.
“This heartbreaking incident underscores the urgent need for enhanced protection mechanisms for migrants on dangerous journeys, often promoted by exploiting desperate and vulnerable unethical smugglers.”
IOM previously described the journey from the Horn of Africa to Yemen as “one of the busiest and most dangerous hybrid migration routes”.
In March, two ships carrying more than 180 migrants sank on the coast of Yemen’s Dhubab district due to the ocean, with only two crew members rescued, all the remaining passengers missing and fearing death.
According to the IOM report, immigrants arriving at Yemeni immigration response points also reported that people are increasingly interested in putting ships into dangerous conditions to avoid patrols, thus becoming more reckless.
Despite the risks, many immigrants are still traveling, reaching Yemen more than 60,000 times in 2024 alone.
Over the past decade, IOM’s missing immigration program has recorded more than 3,400 deaths and missing persons – 1,400 of which were caused by drowning.
