IOM says over 180 people missing after migrant boats capsize off Yemen

More than 180 migrants are missing and feared dead after two boats they were travelling in capsized in rough seas off Yemen on Thursday, the International Organisation for Migration said.

The boats were carrying migrants from a Horn of Africa country and capsized off Yemen's Dhubab district in Ta'iz governorate, IOM said.

"Despite weather warnings, the boats sank in rough seas. Only two Yemeni crew members were rescued, while all passengers and the remaining crew are feared dead, with no bodies recovered yet," IOM spokesperson Tamim Elyan said on Friday.

Earlier on Friday IOM had said in a post on X that at least 186 people were missing after four boats carrying migrants capsized off the coasts of Yemen and Djibouti overnight, referring to the same incident.

IOM, which runs a tally of migrants who are killed or missing on migration routes, said in the post that 558 people lost their life on the route between the Eastern Horn of Africa and Yemen last year.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people leave the Horn of Africa that is plagued by chronic instability to pursue better economic prospects in Gulf nations via the so-called Eastern Route, described by the IOM as one of the world's busiest and riskiest migration corridors.