SANA'A, YEMEN – In a devastating tragedy that underscores the extreme dangers of the migration route across the Gulf of Aden, a boat overloaded with migrants from the Horn of Africa has capsized off the coast of Yemen, leaving at least 68 people dead and another 74 missing and presumed dead, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed.
The incident occurred early on Sunday, August 3, 2025, when the vessel, carrying 154 Ethiopian nationals, went down in treacherous waters off the coast of Yemen's southern Abyan province. In a statement to the press, Abdusattor Esoev, the head of the IOM mission in Yemen, confirmed the grim toll. Only 12 individuals managed to survive the shipwreck.
Local authorities and fishermen launched a harrowing search and recovery operation. The bodies of 54 victims washed ashore in the Khanfar district, while 14 others were recovered and taken to a hospital morgue in Zinjibar, the provincial capital. Rescue efforts are ongoing, but hopes are fading for finding any more survivors among the 74 still unaccounted for.
This disaster is the latest in a series of deadly shipwrecks in the waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen, a route described by the IOM as one of the "busiest and most perilous" maritime migration corridors in the world.
The Perilous "Eastern Route"
Despite more than a decade of brutal civil war and a profound humanitarian crisis within its own borders, Yemen remains a primary transit country for tens of thousands of migrants. Fleeing conflict, extreme poverty, and the severe impacts of climate change in countries like Ethiopia and Somalia, migrants pay smugglers for a place on often unseaworthy and dangerously overcrowded boats, hoping to eventually reach prosperous Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia in search of work.
The journey is fraught with peril. Migrants face the risk of drowning, but also exploitation, violence, and abuse at the hands of human traffickers and smugglers who operate with impunity. Even if they successfully make the sea crossing, their ordeal is far from over. Upon arrival in war-torn Yemen, they are vulnerable to detention, forced labor, and being caught in the crossfire of the ongoing conflict.
A Renewed Alarm on a Humanitarian Crisis
International aid organizations have issued renewed calls for urgent action to address the root causes driving this desperate migration and to enhance protection for those who undertake the journey.
"This latest tragedy is a stark and heartbreaking reminder of the human cost of unchecked irregular migration," an IOM spokesperson stated. "Every life lost in these dangerous waters is one too many. We must work collectively to provide safe and legal migration pathways and to dismantle the criminal smuggling networks that prey on the desperation of vulnerable people."
The international community is being urged to increase funding for humanitarian efforts in the Horn of Africa and to support programs that can provide viable economic alternatives to these life-threatening journeys. For the families of the 68 confirmed dead and the 74 who have vanished beneath the waves, however, these calls come too late.
