Sanaa: A vessel carrying African migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, killing dozens, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday.
According to Deutsche Welle, sixty-eight of some 154 migrants on board the boat died when it sank early on Sunday, with 74 still missing, as reported by the Associated Press news agency, citing the IOM.
Despite a decade of civil war, Yemen remains a popular transit country for migrants seeking access to wealthy Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia for a better life. There is a significant Ethiopian community in Saudi Arabia, with notable diaspora populations also in the UAE and Bahrain.
On their journey through Yemen, Ethiopians face danger due to the ongoing conflict between the Iran-linked Houthis and the UN-recognized government. A 2020 Human Rights Watch Report highlighted that the Houthis killed and expelled Ethiopian migrants in Yemen during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethiopia is grappling with high levels of poverty and the aftermath of a conflict involving the restive Tigray region. An IOM report published in March found that 60,000 migrants came to Yemen in 2024. The IOM describes the route between the Horn of Africa and Yemen as "one of the world's busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes."
The Horn of Africa comprises not only Ethiopia but also Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and the breakaway region of Somaliland. Drought conditions exacerbated by climate change and resulting food insecurity are additional reasons why migrants leave the Horn of Africa, heading to the affluent Gulf Arab states or Europe.