No less than 49 migrants died and around 140 are missing after their boat sank near Yemen’s coast, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM).
This development comes as hundreds of thousands of migrants have made their way from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, according to the IOM’s press release. The boat was carrying about 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from Somalia’s coast across the Gulf of Aden, the migrants told the agency. Among the dead were 31 women and six children. (RELATED: Over 30 Migrants Drown After Boat Capsizes)
The boat left Somalia at about 03:00 a.m. Sunday as part of a recent uptick in migration in the region, the IOM notes. Local authorities in Yemen’s Rudum District explained that migrants typically use Yemen as a transit point on their way to the Gulf States, according to the BBC.
At least 71 people have been rescued so far,…
