Ethiopian migrants drown off Yemen coast
December 8, 2014
Seventy Ethiopian migrants drowned on Sunday when the boat they were traveling in capsized in rough weather off the coast of Yemen, security officials said.
The smugglers' boat carrying the migrants was bound for Yemen, and officials in the province of Taiz said the boat was carrying 70 people, all from Ethiopia.
Human traffickers frequently use unseaworthy boats to transport African migrants. In March, at least 42 migrants were killed when their boat sunk in the Arabian sea off the coast of Yemen.
Thousands of migrants embark upon the journey from the horn of Africa to Yemen each year, with many eventually finding their way to wealthier countries in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and Oman, or to the West.
Recent conflicts in the Middle East and Africa have fueled a dramatic rise in the number of refugees making often dangerous sea voyages to the West. In September, two boats carrying nearly 700 refugees sank after being rammed by human traffickers.
According to human rights organization Amnesty International, more than 2,500 people - out of the 150,000 who have attempted the journey so far this year - have drowned or disappeared at sea.
More than 100,000 refugees attempting to reach Europe have been rescued from the Mediterranean sea this past year.
bw/pfd (Reuters, AP)