This tragic shipwreck is the latest in a series of shipwrecks off the coast of Yemen, killing hundreds of African migrants as they hope to reach the wealthy Gulf Arab states.
The head of the International Migration Organization (IOM) in Yemen, Abdusattor Esoev, said the boat carrying about 150 Ethiopia migrants sank off the coast of Abyan province, south of Yemen.
According to Esoev, the bodies of 54 migrants have drifted ashore in Khanfar district, while 14 others were found offshore, and were taken to the morgue of a hospital in Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province on the southern coast of Yemen.
A local health official named Abdul Qadir Bajameel said that only 10 survivors have been found, including 1 Yemenite and 9 Ethiopia.
Despite Mr. Esoev's assessment that the remaining people may have died, the local rescue team is still actively searching for the missing people.
Despite spending more than a decade of civil war, Yemen remains a major route for migrants from East Africa and the African Court Area to seek jobs in the Gulf of Arabia. Migrants are often taken by human traffickers on dangerous, overloaded boats across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden.
In previous months, areas off the coast of Yemen have frequently seen shipwrecks that left behind casualties and the most recent incident in March. At that time, 4 boats capsized, killing 2 people and leaving 186 others missing.
