Over 140 Ethiopian migrants presumed dead after shipwreck off Yemen

A boat carrying 154 migrants from Ethiopia capsized early Sunday off the coast of Yemen, the UN migration agency said.

Only 12 people were rescued from the tragedy in the Gulf of Aden, with the remaining 142 passengers assumed dead, the head of the U.N International Organisation for Migration in Yemen, Abdusattor Esoev, said. 

More than 68 bodies have so far been recovered. The majority of which were found on the shores of Khanfa in Western Yemen.

In a statement, the Abyan security directorate described a massive search-and-rescue operation given the large number of dead and missing migrants.

Each year, tens of thousands of migrants, mainly Ethiopians, travel from the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea and through Yemen to find work in wealthy Gulf countries, according to a report by the Mixed Migration Centre.

In addition to being the most travelled African migration route, the Eastern Route is widely considered the most dangerous, as migrants encounter life-threatening situations and are exposed to ”violence, abuse, and exploitation”, the report stated. 

In March, 186 Africans went missing after four boats capsized in the waters between Djibouti and Yemen. In total, 550 migrants died on their way to Yemen in 2024, the IOM has confirmed —the most deadly year on record.

Yemen’s ongoing civil war has exacerbated security issues for migrants, as the governance vacuum in the country creates “an ideal environment for smuggling and trafficking networks to flourish”, the Mixed Migration Centre stated.