Photo credit: Arab News
Ethiopia has asked citizens to “avoid irregular routes,” a couple of days after a boat carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants sank off Yemen.
Macau Businees.com reports that at least 76 people lost their lives and dozens of people are still missing after the mishap.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 157 people were on board when the vessel sank on Sunday in the Gulf of Aden.
Ethiopia permanent mission in Geneva wrote, “Ethiopia mourns the tragic loss of 60+(plus) citizens in a maritime disaster at Yemen’s coast.” The mission added that authorities in Addis Ababa are “working with partners to investigate and urges citizens to avoid irregular routes.”
A lot of Africans travel from Djibouti to Yemen across the Red Sea, hoping to reach oil-rich Gulf states to work as labourers or domestic workers.
Many are from Ethiopia’s Tigray region which was ravaged by war between 2020 and 2022.
The Red Sea migrant route is one of the world’s most dangerous, according to IOM. It documented at least, 558 deaths last year.
At least 180 people were declared missing off the Yemen coast in March. The vast majority of them were Ethiopians.
