At least 68 dead after migrant boat sinks off Yemen

At least 68 dead after migrant boat sinks off Yemen. [File, Standard]

A shipwreck off Yemen has killed at least 68 people, the UN's migration agency said Monday, with dozens still missing after the boat carrying mostly Ethiopians sank.

The International Organization for Migration's country chief of mission, Abdusattor Esoev, told AFP that "as of last night, 68 people aboard the boat were killed, but only 12 out of 157 have been rescued so far. The fate of the missing is still unknown."

On Sunday, two security sources in southern Yemen's Abyan province -- a frequent destination for migrant smuggling boats -- gave a preliminary toll of 27 killed in the shipwreck.

Despite the war that has ravaged Yemen since 2014, the impoverished country has remained a key transit point for irregular migration, in particular from Ethiopia which itself has been roiled by ethnic conflict.

Each yeah, thousands brave the so-called "Eastern Route" from Djibouti to Yemen across the Red Sea, in the hope of eventually reaching oil-rich Gulf countries.

The vessel that sank off the coast of Yemen's Abyan was carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants, according to the province's security directorate.

It said on Sunday that security forces were conducting operations to recover a "significant" number of bodies.

Last month, at least eight people died after smugglers had forced migrants to disembark from a boat in the Red Sea, according to the UN's migration agency.

The International Organization for Migration says tens of thousands of migrants have become stranded in Yemen and suffer abuse and exploitation during their journeys.

Last year, the IOM recorded at least 558 deaths on the Red Sea route, with 462 resulting from shipwrecks.