Migrant Boat Carrying Africans Sinks Off Yemen, Killing 68

At least 68 African migrants, mostly Ethiopians, died after a boat capsized off the southern Yemeni coast in the early hours of Sunday, August 3, 2025. The vessel was carrying approximately 154 passengers attempting to reach the Gulf through one of the world’s most perilous migration routes.

Authorities in Abyan Governorate confirmed that dozens of bodies have washed ashore and that a large-scale search and rescue operation is ongoing. At least 74 people remain missing, while 12 survivors have been pulled from the sea, according to Abdusattor Esoev, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen.

“This boat was navigating a dangerous route along the vast Yemeni coast,” Esoev said. “What we are advocating for all member states… is to enhance their regular pathways so people can take legal ways in order to migrate, instead of being trapped or deceived by smugglers and taking those dangerous journeys.”

The ill-fated vessel was reportedly transporting Ethiopian nationals, using Yemen as a transit country en route to Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf states. Despite a decade-long civil war, Yemen remains a major corridor for African migrants seeking better economic opportunities across the Red Sea.

An IOM report released in March estimates that over 60,000 migrants have arrived in Yemen in 2024 alone, underscoring the persistent demand for cross-Gulf migration. The route from the Horn of Africa, encompassing Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, to Yemen is considered one of the world’s busiest and deadliest mixed migration corridors.

Abyan security officials described the aftermath as grim, with bodies found strewn across a wide expanse of coastline. Migrant accounts collected at Migrant Response Points in Yemen reveal growing recklessness by people-smugglers, who are reportedly launching boats into stormy seas to evade patrols.

Yemen’s ongoing war has intensified the dangers for migrants. The conflict between the Iran-backed Houthi movement and the UN-recognised government continues to destabilize the region. A 2020 Human Rights Watch report documented cases of Ethiopian migrants being killed or expelled by Houthi forces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IOM’s Missing Migrants Project records more than 3,400 deaths and disappearances along the Horn of Africa–Yemen route over the past decade, with at least 1,400 due to drowning.

In a previous incident this year, two boats carrying more than 180 migrants sank off Yemen’s Dhubab district, with only two crew members rescued. The IOM has called for greater international collaboration to safeguard migrants and hold smugglers accountable.