At least 68 migrants have died after a boat carrying approximately 157 people capsized in rough seas off Yemen’s southern Abyan province on Sunday, officials have confirmed.
The head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen, Abdusattor Esoev, told the BBC that only 12 survivors had been rescued, while dozens remain unaccounted for. Most of the victims are believed to be Ethiopian nationals.
“This tragic incident underscores the extreme dangers faced by migrants taking irregular routes,” Esoev said.
The vessel was reportedly navigating a perilous stretch of Yemen’s coastline commonly used by people smugglers transporting migrants from the Horn of Africa to Gulf states in search of work. According to the IOM, Yemen remains a key transit point along one of the busiest and most dangerous mixed migration routes in the world.
Security officials in Abyan said a large-scale search-and-rescue operation was launched following the capsize, with bodies discovered along a wide area of the shoreline.
Esoev stressed the urgent need for international action to provide safer, legal migration options to deter people from turning to smugglers.
“What we are advocating for all member states… is to enhance their regular pathways so people can take legal ways in order to migrate, instead of being trapped or deceived by smugglers and taking those dangerous journeys,” he said.
The IOM has warned of increasing recklessness by people-smugglers, citing recent reports of boats being knowingly sent into dangerous waters to avoid maritime patrols.
In March, two similar boats carrying more than 180 migrants capsized off the Dhubab district of Yemen due to turbulent seas. Only two crew members were rescued.
Despite the well-known risks, migration through Yemen continues. The IOM estimates that over 60,000 migrants have arrived in the country in 2024 alone. The agency’s Missing Migrants Project has recorded more than 3,400 deaths and disappearances along the route over the past decade — 1,400 of them due to drowning.
Yemen’s continuing civil war, now in its second decade, further complicates the humanitarian landscape. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have held much of north-western Yemen since 2014, when they ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa.
