A tragic humanitarian tragedy at sea occurred on Sunday morning in the Gulf of Aden. It resulted in the death of 68 African migrants and 74 missing African migrants. The overloaded fishing boat, which was carrying a total of 154 other Ethiopian migrants, sank in seas off Yemen’s southern province of Abyan. This most recent disaster underscores the persistent dangers that migrants face when trying to reach Yemen through perilous sea routes.
As the IOM reported, 54 bodies had already washed ashore in the district of Khanfar. Furthermore, 14 dead migrants were retrieved and transported to a hospital’s morgue in Zinjibar, provincial capital of Abyan. The other migrants are now presumed dead and only 12 of the survivors were able to escape the shipwreck.
Abdusattor Esoev, the head of IOM in Yemen, corroborated the gruesome facts about this attack. He saw first-hand the ruthless way smugglers rush migrants onto dangerously overcrowded boats. These boats travel across the treacherous seas of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. This latest tragedy only adds to the already acute crisis. In recent months, at least 500 migrants have died or disappeared in such shipwrecks on the Yemeni coast.
That scary trend is not letting up. In 2024, more than 60,000 migrants have already reached Yemen, all making the same harrowing journey in search of better opportunities, and after facing danger at every turn. The tragedy highlights the extreme conditions that so many have to endure, forcing them to take risky journeys across the Mediterranean.
Today, the Gulf of Aden has turned into a dangerous hotspot for migrant smugglers, who routinely overloaded boats well above safe capacity. Lack of perilous conditions and unsafe practices on these boats are exacerbating the crisis. This crisis has a profound impact on the thousands of people seeking asylum who are escaping violence and poverty in their countries of origin.
