Solely 4 survivors have been discovered after a ship carrying at the very least 45 migrants and refugees capsized off Yemen, the UN Refugee Company has mentioned.
The vessel capsized on Wednesday evening due to robust winds and overloading close to the coast of Taiz province, which runs alongside the southern finish of the Crimson Sea, according to a statement.
The company supplied no additional particulars however mentioned it was working with its companions to help the survivors.
It additionally mentioned the incident highlighted the perilous journeys between Yemen and Africa.
Last month, at least 56 Somali and Ethiopian migrants died and 140 others were reported missing after a ship from Somalia capsized within the Gulf of Aden, off Yemen’s south coast. Amongst those that misplaced their lives had been 31 girls and 6 kids.
In response to the Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM), the variety of migrants arriving in Yemen from the Horn of Africa rose from about 73,000 in 2022 to greater than 97,200 final yr.
The UN company says they’re spurred by political and financial instability, alongside extreme droughts and different excessive climate occasions, and that they’re hoping to finally attain neighbouring Saudi Arabia and different Gulf nations. Nevertheless, they’re compelled to depend on smugglers who use typically harmful and overcrowded boats for the crossings.
Those that make it should then traverse Yemen, the place a nine-year civil conflict has reportedly left greater than 150,000 folks useless and triggered one of many world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Earlier than the newest capsizing, the IOM mentioned at the very least 1,860 folks had died or disappeared alongside the migration route between the East and Horn of Africa and Gulf nations since 2014, together with 480 who drowned.
