The death toll from a migrant boat disaster off Yemen has climbed to 96, underscoring the growing human cost of perilous journeys across the Red Sea.
The overcrowded boat, carrying mostly Ethiopian nationals, sank on Sunday while en route to Abyan governorate in southern Yemen – a regular landing site for people-smuggling operations headed for Gulf countries.
Yemeni officials and a source from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said two more bodies had been found by Tuesday. Local fishermen had initially buried the bodies after they washed ashore, before the IOM confirmed them as victims.
Earlier, a Yemeni security source and a local official had reported 94 bodies recovered, with many already buried. The official added that more corpses continued to wash up in the days after the sinking.
Migrants fleeing Ethiopia killed in shipwreck off Yemen coast
Dismantling migrant camps
An AFP journalist who visited the site reported seeing at least two bodies on the beach. Makeshift tents were scattered along the shore, and groups of African migrants were being moved out of the remote coastal area.
Security forces in Abyan province, backed by local authorities, launched a sweep of the shoreline to dismantle migrant camps run by trafficking networks.
Brigadier General Ali Nasser Buzaid, the top security official in Abyan, said the dead included both men and women.
The IOM and local officials estimate that the boat was carrying around 200 people.
On Monday, two Yemeni security sources reported that 32 individuals had been rescued, though dozens remain unaccounted for.
A year after the ceasefire in Tigray, Ethiopia is little closer to peace
Ethiopia's migrant exodus
Despite the ongoing civil war that has gripped Yemen since 2014, the country continues to serve as a major transit route for irregular migration, particularly from Ethiopia, where many face limited opportunities and instability.
The situation in Ethiopia's Tigray region has added further urgency to the migrant exodus.
The recent resurgence of conflict in the north – marked by reports of violence, displacement, and humanitarian challenges – has pushed more people to seek refuge elsewhere and embark on the perilous journey across the Red Sea.
(with AFP)
