A boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, leaving at least 49 migrants dead and 140 more missing. Yesterday, June 10, the boat carrying 260 migrants overturned close to Alghareef Point in the Shabwah governorate. Thirty-one women and six children were among the victims of the horrific accident.
“This recent tragedy is another reminder of the urgent need to work together to address urgent migration challenges and ensure the safety and security of migrants along migration routes,” said Mohammedali Abunajela, IOM Spokesperson. “Our thoughts are with the victims and their families as we remain committed to supporting survivors and improving search and rescue efforts in the region.”
The survivors said that on Sunday at around three in the morning, the boat carrying 115 Somali nationals and 145 Ethiopians, including ninety women, departed from Bossaso in Somalia. This is similar to the current increase in Horn of Africa migrants heading to Yemen, which has been fueled by political and economic unrest as well as catastrophic droughts and other extreme weather in Ethiopia and Somalia.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has mobilized two mobile medical teams to provide immediate assistance to the survivors, including six children. Out of the 71 survivors, eight migrants required further medical attention and were referred to a hospital while the remaining 63 survivors received first aid and minor treatment, including trauma care and wound dressing from the on-site mobile clinic. IOM psychologists working with the mobile medical team are providing mental health support to 38 survivors.
Search and rescue operations are ongoing despite significant challenges due to a shortage of operational patrol boats, a situation further complicated by the recent conflict. Local community members, including fishermen, played a crucial role in the aftermath by assisting with the recovery efforts and helping to lay the deceased to rest at Ayn-Bamaabed cemetery.
Despite these efforts, 140 individuals are still missing, and efforts are currently underway to explore additional search and rescue options as more bodies continue to wash ashore in various locations.
This tragedy follows two other shipwrecks that occurred on the same path along the Djiboutian coast and killed at least 62 people. 1,860 migrant deaths and disappearances—480 from drowning—have been reported by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project since 2014 along the Eastern Route connecting the East and Horn of Africa with the Gulf countries.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants, most of whom travel irregularly, use the Eastern Horn of Africa to Yemen as one of the busiest and riskiest mixed migration routes in the world. Smugglers are usually the ones who help migrants navigate the treacherous boat passage to Yemen’s coast, putting them at higher risk of human trafficking among other things.
Despite the ongoing conflict in Yemen, thousands of migrants continue to transit through Yemen in hopes of reaching the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. In 2023, IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) observed more than 97,200 migrant arrivals to Yemen, surpassing figures from last year when just over 73,000 migrants arrived in Yemen.
