SAEDNEWS: At least 68 African migrants were killed and 74 others remain missing after a boat capsized off the coast of southern Yemen on Sunday, the United Nations migration agency said.
The vessel, which was carrying 154 Ethiopian migrants, sank in the Gulf of Aden near Abyan province, according to Abdusattor Esoev, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen, reported the Associated Press.
Esoev told AP that the bodies of 54 migrants washed ashore in the district of Khanfar. Fourteen others were found dead and taken to a hospital morgue in Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan on Yemen’s southern coast.
Only 12 migrants survived the shipwreck, while the remaining passengers were still missing and presumed dead, Esoev added.
The Abyan security directorate, in a statement, said a large-scale search and rescue operation was launched in response to the high number of casualties. Authorities reported that numerous bodies were discovered scattered along an extensive stretch of the coastline.
