At least 68 African immigrants were killed after the boat has passed off the coast of Yemen, the United Nations says: NPR

CAIRO (AP) – The United Nations Immigration Agency said that a boat turned on Sunday in the water off the coast of Yemen, leaving 68 African migrants and 74 others missing.

The tragedy was the latest in a series of shipwrecks Yemen Those who killed hundreds of African immigrants who flee conflict and poverty in the hope of arrival The Arab Gulf states.

Abdisor Isif, head of the International Organization for Migration in Yemen, told Associated Press that the ship, which includes 154 Ethiopian immigrants on board, sank in the Gulf of Aden off the southern province of Abyan early Sunday.

He said that the bodies of 54 migrants washed the beach in the Khanfar area, and 14 others were found dead and were taken to a hospital in Zenjibar, the capital of Abyan on the southern coast in Yemen.

Iswaez said only 12 migrants survived the wreckage of the ship, and the rest were missing and assumed dead.

In a statement, the ABYAN Security Directorate described the huge search and rescue process, given the large number of dead and missing immigrants. She said that many bodies were found scattered across a wide area of the beach.

Although More than a decade of civil warYemen is a major road for immigrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach the Arab Gulf countries to work. Migrants are taken by smugglers on dangerous boats that are often crowded across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden.

Hundreds of migrants died or lost in V -ships Just for Yemen in recent months, including in March when two immigrants died and 186 others have lost Four boats turned off Yemen and DjiboutiAccording to the International Organization for Migration.

More than 60,000 migrants arrived in Yemen in 2024, a decrease from 97,200 in 2023, perhaps due to the increase in patrols in the water, according to the IOM report in March.