
At least 27 migrants dead in shipwreck off Yemen: Security sources
'At this stage, the deaths of 27 people are confirmed, their bodies have been recovered,' one security source said, adding that 'searches are ongoing.'
A second source said '150 people were on board the vessel that sank,' also reporting 27 dead.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Faced with hardships at home, Ethiopians risk dangerous seas for a better life elsewhere
ADDIS ABABA: The deadly shipwreck in waters off Yemen's coast over the weekend is weighing heavily on the hearts of many in Ethiopia. Twelve migrants on the boat that carried 154 Ethiopians survived the tragedy — at least 68 died and 74 remain missing. When Solomon Gebremichael heard about Sunday's disaster, it brought back heartbreaking memories — he had lost a close friend and a brother to illegal migration years ago. 'I understand the pain all too well,' Gebremichael told The Associated Press at his home in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Although Ethiopia has been relatively stable since the war in the country's Tigray region ended in 2022, youth unemployment is currently at over 20%, leading many to risk dangerous waters trying to reach the wealthy Gulf Arab countries, seeking a better life elsewhere. Mesel Kindeya made the crossing in 2016 via the same sea route as the boat that capsized on Sunday, traveling without papers on harrowing journeys arranged by smugglers from Ethiopia to Saudi Arabia. 'We could barely breathe,' she remembers of her own sea crossing. 'Speaking up could get us thrown overboard by smugglers. I deeply regret risking my life, thinking it would improve my situation.' Kindeya made it to Saudi Arabia and worked as a maid for six months, before she was captured by authorities, and imprisoned for eight months. By the time she was deported back to Ethiopia, she had barely managed to earn back the initial cost of her journey. 'Despite the hardships of life, illegal immigration is just not a solution,' she says. Over the past years, hundreds of migrants have died in shipwrecks off Yemen, the Arab world's most impoverished country that has been engulfed in a civil war since September 2014. 'This shows the desperation of the situation in Ethiopia for many people,' according to Teklemichael Ab Sahlemariam, a human rights lawyer practicing in Addis Ababa. 'They are pushed to head to a war-torn nation like Yemen and onward to Saudi Arabia or Europe," he told the AP. 'I know of many who have perished.' And many of those who get caught and are sent back to Ethiopia try and make the crossing again. 'People keep going back, even when they are deported, facing financial extortion and subjected to sexual exploitation,' the lawyer said. Ethiopia's foreign ministry in a statement on Monday urged Ethiopians 'to use legal avenues in securing opportunities.' 'We warn citizens not to take the illegal route in finding such opportunities and avoid the services of traffickers at all cost,' the statement said. African Union spokesperson Nuur Mohamud Sheek called for urgent collective action in a post on social media 'to tackle the root causes of irregular migration and the upholding of migrant rights and to prevent further loss of life.' Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa countries. About 60,000 migrants arrived in Yemen last year, down from 97,200 in 2023 — a drop that has been attributed to greater patrolling of the waters, according to a March report by the UN's migration agency, the International Organization for Migration. In March, at least two migrants died and 186 others were missing after four boats capsized off Yemen and Djibouti, according to the IOM.


Arab News
11 hours ago
- Arab News
Spain breaks up ring smuggling Yemenis to UK, Canada
MADRID: Spanish police said Monday they have dismantled a criminal network suspected of smuggling mainly Yemeni migrants into Britain and Canada with fake passports. After obtaining refugee documents in Greece, the migrants went to European airports where gang members would deliver them counterfeit passports to allow them to 'irregularly' go to the two countries, police said in a statement. The group allegedly facilitated more than 40 irregular migration attempts, charging up to 3,000 ($3,250) per person. Police said they started investigating in September after Canada's border agency alerted Spanish authorities to multiple cases of Yemeni nationals trying to enter from Spanish airports using forged travel documents. Officers arrested 11 suspected gang members, including its alleged leader, in raids in northern Spain and Madrid. Police said they traced flight bookings, money transfers, credit card payments, airport surveillance footage, and electronic travel authorizations as part of their probe into the network. Authorities in Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and Britain helped the investigation, and the European Union's Europol agency helped analyze data from mobile devices that were seized from the suspects.


Arab News
13 hours ago
- Arab News
Lebanon president promises justice 5 years after Beirut port blast
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday vowed that 'justice is coming,' five years after a catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port for which nobody has been held to account. The blast on August 4, 2020 was one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, devastating swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500. The explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been stored haphazardly for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials. Aoun said that the Lebanese state 'is committed to uncovering the whole truth, no matter the obstacles or how high the positions' involved. 'The law applies to all, without exception,' Aoun said in a statement. Monday has been declared a day of national mourning, and rallies demanding justice are planned later in the day, converging on the port. 'The blood of your loved ones will not be in vain,' the president told victims' families, adding: 'Justice is coming, accountability is coming.' After more than a two-year impasse following political and judicial obstruction, investigating judge Tarek Bitar has finished questioning defendants and suspects, a judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Bitar is waiting for some procedures to be completed and for a response to requests last month to several Arab and European countries for 'information on specific incidents,' the official added, without elaborating. The judge will then finalize the investigation and refer the file to the public prosecution for its opinion before he issues an indictment decision, the official said. President Aoun said that 'we are working with all available means to ensure the investigations are completed with transparency and integrity.' Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a former International Court of Justice judge, said on Sunday that knowing the truth and ensuring accountability were national issues, decrying decades of official impunity. Bitar resumed his inquiry after Aoun and Salam took office this year pledging to uphold judicial independence, after the balance of power shifted following a devastating war between Israel and militant group Hezbollah. Bitar's probe stalled after the Iran-backed group, long a dominant force in Lebanese politics but weakened by the latest war, had accused him of bias and demanded his removal. Mariana Fodoulian from the association of victims' families said that 'for five years, officials have been trying to evade accountability, always thinking they are above the law.' 'We're not asking for anything more than the truth,' she told AFP. 'We won't stop until we get comprehensive justice.' On Sunday, Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the port's gutted and partially collapsed wheat silos would be included on a list of historic buildings. Victims' families have long demanded their preservation as a memorial of the catastrophe.