Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Middle East

At least 49 dead and 140 missing after migrant boat sinks near Yemen, UN agency says

Despite Yemen's civil war, the number of migrants arriving annually tripled from 27,000 in 2021 to over 90,000 in 2023

Associated Press
Published
close
Fox News Flash top headlines for June 11 Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for June 11

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

  • A boat transporting some 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from the northern coast of Somalia on the 200-mile journey to Yemen sank in the Gulf of Aden, leaving at least 49 dead and 140 missing.
  • Search efforts continue and 71 people have been rescued so far. 
  • The sinking follows two April shipwrecks off the coast of Djibouti that killed at least 62 people as they tried to reach Yemen.

A boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, leaving at least 49 dead and 140 missing, the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.

The boat was carrying some 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from the northern coast of Somalia on the 200-mile journey across the Gulf of Aden when it sank Monday off Yemen’s southern coast, the IOM said in a statement.

It said search efforts were continuing and so far 71 had been rescued. Among the dead were 31 women and six children, it said.

MORE THAN 63,000 MIGRANTS HAVE DIED OR GONE MISSING SINCE 2014, UN AGENCY REPORTS

Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries for work. Despite a nearly decadelong civil war in Yemen, the number of migrants arriving annually tripled from 2021 to 2023, soaring from about 27,000 to over 90,000, the IOM said last month. Around 380,000 migrants are currently in Yemen, according to the agency.

This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa.

A boat transporting some 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from the northern coast of Somalia on the 200-mile journey to Yemen sank in the Gulf of Aden, leaving at least 49 dead and 140 missing, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration. (AP Photo)

To reach Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden. In April, at least 62 people died in two shipwrecks off the coast of Djibouti as they tried to reach Yemen. The IOM said at least 1,860 people have died or disappeared along the route, including 480 who drowned.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Monday’s sinking "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 IOM spokesperson Mohammedali Abunajela.