Boat carrying 45 migrants and refugees capsizes off Yemen

Only four survivors have been found after a boat carrying at least 45 migrants and refugees capsized off Yemen, the UN Refugee Agency has said.

The vessel capsized on Wednesday night because of strong winds and overloading near the coast of Taiz province, which runs along the southern end of the Red Sea, according to a statement.

The agency provided no further details but said it was working with its partners to assist the survivors.

It also said the incident highlighted the perilous journeys between Yemen and Africa.

Last month, at least 56 Somali and Ethiopian migrants died and 140 others were reported missing after a boat from Somalia capsized in the Gulf of Aden, off Yemen’s south coast. Among those who lost their lives were 31 women and six children.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of migrants arriving in Yemen from the Horn of Africa rose from about 73,000 in 2022 to more than 97,200 last year.

The UN agency says they are spurred by political and economic instability, alongside severe droughts and other extreme weather events, and that they are hoping to eventually reach neighbouring Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. However, they are forced to rely on smugglers who use often dangerous and overcrowded boats for the crossings.

Those who make it must then traverse Yemen, where a nine-year civil war has reportedly left more than 150,000 people dead and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Before the latest capsizing, the IOM said at least 1,860 people had died or disappeared along the migration route between the East and Horn of Africa and Gulf countries since 2014, including 480 who drowned.