June 6 (UPI) — At least 46 people drowned after a boat carrying migrants across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen capsized, the International Organization for Migration said Wednesday.
The victims include 37 men and nine women who were going to Yemen to find work, the U.N. agency said. Another 16 were missing and presumed dead.
“The Gulf of Aden’s shameful migration tragedy is one that is hidden in plain sight,” Mohammed Abdiker, director of IOM’s Department of Operations and Emergencies, said in a statement. “Over 7,000 poor migrants take this perilous journey every month; some 100,000 took it just last year. They are treated appallingly and go through horrendous conditions. This has to end.”
The boat left Bossaso, Somalia, on Tuesday, carrying more than 100 Ethiopian migrants.The boat was near its destination when high waves flooded the boat and caused it to capsize.
In January, at least 30 Ethiopians and Somalians drowned in the Gulf of Aden while trying to reach Yemen.
The mass drowning occurred days after 112 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea when their boat capsized after leaving Tunisia.
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