The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said on Thursday that a boat carrying 45 asylum seekers capsized off the coast of Yemen’s Taiz province on Wednesday evening, with only four of them surviving.
The Commission added that the boat capsized due to strong winds and overloading, and that it is cooperating with the International Organization for Migration to assist the survivors and provide them with the necessary protection.
Last June, a ship carrying 260 migrants sank off the coast of Yemen after sailing from Somalia, killing at least 49 migrants and leaving 140 others missing.
Yemen is a transit destination for migrants from the Horn of Africa (East), especially Ethiopia and Somalia.
Since 2014, the International Organization for Migration has documented the death or disappearance of 1,860 migrants on the route from East Africa and the Horn of Africa.
The United Nations reported that 97,000 migrants arrived in Yemen from the Horn of Africa last year.
