CAIRO — A minimum of two individuals have died and 186 others have been lacking after 4 boats carrying migrants from Africa capsized in a single day in waters off Yemen and Djibouti, the United Nations migration company mentioned on Friday.
Two vessels capsized off Yemen late Thursday, mentioned Tamim Eleian, a spokesman for the Worldwide Group for Migration. Two crew members have been rescued, however 181 migrants and 5 Yemeni crew members stay lacking, he mentioned.
Two different boats capsized off the tiny African nation of Djibouti across the identical time, he mentioned. Two our bodies of migrants have been recovered, and all others onboard have been rescued.
Robust winds brought about the 2 boats to capsize close to the seashore in Djibouti after they began crusing off, mentioned Abdusattor Esoev, the pinnacle of the mission for the I.O.M. in Yemen.
The third boat, which capsized off Dhubab district in Taiz governorate, in southwestern Yemen, was carrying 31 Ethiopian migrants and three Yemeni crew.
The fourth boat, which capsized close to the identical space, was heading to Ahwar district in Abyan governorate, and was carrying 150 Ethiopian migrants and 4 Yemeni crew.
Yemen is a significant route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa searching for to achieve Gulf international locations for work, with tons of of hundreds attempting the route every year.
To succeed in Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on typically harmful, overcrowded boats throughout the Crimson Sea or Gulf of Aden.
The numbers making it to Yemen reached 97,200 in 2023 — triple the quantity in 2021. Final yr, the quantity dropped to simply below 61,000, in all probability due to larger patrolling of the waters, based on an I.O.M. report launched this month.
Over the previous decade, at the very least 2,082 migrants have disappeared alongside the route, together with 693 recognized to have drowned, based on the migration company. Some 380,000 migrants are in Yemen.
