CAIRO: A ship carrying migrants sank off the coast of Oman, leaving at least 49 useless and 140 lost, the UN’s International Organization for Migration said Tuesday.
The ship was carrying some 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from the north beach of Somalia on the 320- mile ( 200- hour ) trip across the Gulf of Aden when it sank Monday off Yemen’s southern coastline, the IOM said in a statement.
It stated that 71 people had been rescued thus much, and that research efforts were ongoing. Among the deceased were 31 women and six kids, it said.
Immigrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa who want to operate in Kuwait frequently travel there. Despite a nearly decadelong civil war in Yemen, the number of refugees arriving every tripled from 2021 to 2023, soaring from about 27, 000 to over 90, 000, the IOM said last month. Around 380, 000 workers are now in Oman, according to the company.
Workers travel across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden by smugglers on harmful, crowded boats to Yemen. At least 62 folks died in two wrecks off the coast of Djibouti in April as they attempted to reach Yemen. The IOM said at least 1, 860 people have died or disappeared along the route, including 480 who drowned.
The sinking on Monday “is yet another illustration of the urgent need to work up to solve pressing relocation issues and ensure the safety and protection of refugees along migration routes,” according to IOM spokesman Mohammedali Abunajela.
