Subhechcha Ganguly 
At least 68 African migrants have died and 74 remain missing after a boat carrying 154 people capsized off the southern coast of Yemen on Sunday, according to the United Nations migration agency. The vessel, packed with Ethiopian migrants, sank in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen’s Abyan province.
Abdusattor Esoev, the chief of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen, confirmed that 54 bodies were found washed ashore in the Khanfar district, while 14 others were recovered and taken to a morgue in Zinjibar, the provincial capital.
Only 12 migrants survived the incident. The rest are still unaccounted for and are presumed dead. Yemeni authorities have launched a large-scale search and rescue operation, with bodies reported scattered along a wide stretch of the coastline.
This tragedy is the latest in a series of fatal maritime incidents involving migrants. The IOM noted that in March, four boats capsized near Yemen and Djibouti, leaving at least two dead and 186 missing.
Despite years of conflict, Yemen remains a major transit route for migrants from East Africa attempting to reach Gulf nations. These journeys, often organized by smugglers using overcrowded and unsafe boats, frequently end in disaster.
