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Strait Bab al-Mandab - locals call it "Gate to Hell"
Photo: Gallo Images / Orbital Horizon / Copernicus Sentinel Data / Getty Images
Fishermen recovered 25 bodies off the coast of Yemen on Monday.
According to the authorities, a boat with up to 200 people seeking protection on board had capsized.
According to the fishermen, the dead were discovered in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which lies between Djibouti in northeast Africa and Yemen.
The fate of the other boat occupants was initially unclear.
"The boat capsized two days ago and had between 160 and 200 people on board," said a spokesman for the authorities, citing Yemeni tugs.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed the sinking of a boat in the area, but was initially unable to provide any details.
Yemen is still the target of many asylum seekers
The bodies were recovered from Ras al-Ara in the southern province of Lahij, Fischer told the AFP news agency.
The area is called the “gate to hell” by the locals because of the very active smuggling gangs there.
The drowned people are believed to be African refugees.
Despite the war that has raged for six years and devastating poverty, Yemen is the target of many people from other African countries who are looking for work on the Arabian Peninsula.
They hope to get to Saudi Arabia or other oil states from there.
However, many refugees are stranded in Yemen.
According to the IOM, 5,100 migrants have arrived in Yemen so far this year.
In 2020 it was 35,000 and in 2019 it was 127,000 before the corona pandemic outbreak led to a decline in labor demand in the Gulf States.
The UN organization sends many migrants arriving in Yemen back to their home countries.
In April she said that more than 32,000 refugees, mostly from Ethiopia, were stranded in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
mfh / AFP
