68 Ethiopian migrants killed after boat capsized off Yemen coast, says UN

A boat capsized in waters off Yemen’s coast, leaving 68 African migrants dead and 74 others missing, the UN’s migration agency says.

The tragedy was the latest in a series of shipwrecks off Yemen that have killed hundreds of African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in hopes of reaching the wealthy Gulf Arab countries.

The vessel, with 154 Ethiopian migrants on board, sank in the Gulf of Aden off the southern Yemeni province of Abyan early this morning, Abdusattor Esoev, head of the International Organization for Migration in Yemen tells The Associated Press.

He says the bodies of 54 migrants washed ashore in the district of Khanfar, and 14 others were found dead and taken to a hospital morgue in Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan on Yemen’s southern coast.

Only 12 migrants survived the shipwreck, and the rest were missing and presumed dead, Esoev says.