More than 46 migrants in trying to cross from Somalia to Yemen have drowned when their boat capsized, another 16 people were missing after the vessel overturned in rough seas off Yemen’s coast.
Survivors say the smuggler’s boat was carrying at least 100 people who had left the port of Bosaso to find work in Yemen and other Gulf countries.
The International Organization for Migration IOM says the boat capsized in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday morning.
Reports say all the migrants were Ethiopian nationals, Among the victims were 37 men and nine women their boat capsized in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday morning.
Migrants and refugees have been travelling to Yemen from the Horn of Africa for decades because of its proximity and the perception of the country as a gateway to other Gulf states and Europe.
The International Organization for Migration IOM official Mohammed Abdiker said, over 7,000 poor migrants take this perilous journey every month; some 100,000 took it just last year.
