More than 60 migrants died when a boat carrying around 150 people sank off the coast of Yemen in bad weather on Sunday.
The vessel capsized off Yemen’s southern province of Abyan, and 68 bodies have been recovered, the Yemen chief for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told the BBC. He said 12 people had been rescued and dozens were still missing.
Most of the victims are believed to be Ethiopian nationals, said the IOM, which called the incident “heartbreaking”.
Yemen remains a major pathway for migrants from the Horn of Africa travelling to the Gulf Arab states in search of work, with the IOM estimating hundreds have died or gone missing in shipwrecks in recent months.
IOM Yemen chief Abdusattor Esoev said the boat was carrying around 157 migrants on a dangerous route in the vast coastal area often used by people smugglers.
Yemen is a popular transit country for many desperate migrants heading north to Saudi Arabia in search of better opportunities.
The bodies of 54 migrants were discovered onshore in the southern district of Khanfar, and 14 others were taken to a hospital morgue in the Abyan provincial capital Zinjibar, the Associated Press reported.
The Abyan security directorate released a statement on the large search and rescue mission under way and said many dead bodies had been found across a wide area of shoreline, according to AP.
A spokesperson for the IOM said the agency was “deeply saddened” by the “tragic loss of life”.
