Recent incidents, including this one, have claimed the lives of hundreds attempting to escape conflict and poverty in pursuit of better opportunities in affluent Gulf Arab states.
The ill-fated vessel, carrying 154 individuals, mostly from Ethiopia, sank near the Yemeni province of Abyan early Sunday. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the bodies of 54 individuals were recovered when they washed up along Khanfar’s coastline, with 14 additional deaths confirmed at a Zinjibar hospital morgue. Survival is confirmed for only 12 of the passengers, leaving the others missing and presumed dead.
The scale of the tragedy prompted an extensive search and rescue operation, as the security directorate of Abyan encountered a large number of deceased and missing individuals. Bodies were strewn across a wide expanse of the shoreline, amplifying the search’s complexity.
Despite Yemen’s extended civil conflict, it functions as a critical transit point for African migrants heading to the Gulf for employment. Smugglers often use overcrowded, perilous boat journeys across either the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden, risking many lives.
Past incidents off Yemen’s coast, along with accounts from March, show a concerning pattern. In one event, four boat capsizes resulted in the loss of two lives and left 186 migrants unaccounted for, as per the IOM’s report.
In 2024, over 60,000 migrants reached Yemen, marking a decrease from the 97,200 arrivals in 2023, possibly owing to increased maritime surveillance, as per a March IOM report.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/04/african-migrants-killed-capsized-boat-shipwreck-yemen
