ABYAN — A boat carrying 157 migrants sank off the southern coast of Yemen on Sunday, killing at least 68 people and leaving dozens unaccounted for. The vessel capsized in the Gulf of Aden near Abyan province during rough sea conditions. Twelve survivors were rescued, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which confirmed that most of the passengers were Ethiopian nationals. The migrants were reportedly en route to Gulf countries, a common destination for people from the Horn of Africa seeking work.
Abyan security authorities launched a large-scale search along the shoreline. Bodies were discovered across a wide stretch of coastline, and the operation remains underway to locate the missing.
“This boat was traveling a dangerous and widely used route by human smugglers,” said Abdusattor Esoev of the IOM in Yemen. “Migrants continue to risk their lives in these journeys due to lack of legal migration channels and growing desperation.”
The journey from countries like Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti through Yemen to the Gulf is considered one of the world’s most hazardous migration paths. Despite war, famine, and widespread insecurity in Yemen, migrants continue to use the corridor, often falling prey to smugglers and traffickers.
According to the IOM, over 60,000 migrants have arrived in Yemen so far in 2024. Many of them use coastal points in Djibouti and Somalia to cross the Gulf of Aden in overloaded, unsafe boats.
In March, two similar vessels sank near Yemen’s Dhubab district, killing over 100 people. Survivors later told aid workers that smugglers had forced them to sail in stormy weather to evade detection.
The IOM’s Missing Migrants Project reports that more than 3,400 migrants have died or disappeared along the Horn of Africa–Yemen route in the past decade. Nearly 1,400 of those deaths were caused by drowning.
An IOM report earlier this year warned that smugglers have grown increasingly reckless, deliberately sending boats into rough seas to avoid naval patrols. Migrants who reach Yemen are often subjected to detention, forced labor, or extortion by armed groups or traffickers.
“This tragedy highlights the urgent need for stronger legal protections and safe migration alternatives,” Esoev said. “States must provide viable options so people are not driven into the hands of criminals.”
Yemen, a country still mired in civil war, offers no security to migrants. The conflict, which erupted in 2014, has fractured the country and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The Houthi movement currently controls much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sana’a.
Despite the dangers, Yemen remains a transit point because of its proximity to the Horn of Africa and the Gulf states.
International organizations continue to call for urgent action, warning that without safer migration options and stronger enforcement against smuggling networks, tragedies like this will persist.
Search and recovery operations are ongoing. Authorities say the death toll may rise as more bodies are retrieved from the sea.
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