A VESSEL carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, leaving more than two dozen people dead or missing, the United Nations migration agency said today.

The tragedy is the latest in a string of shipwrecks that have left scores dead.

The vessel was carrying 25 Ethiopian migrants and the boat captain and his assistant, both Yemeni, when it capsized last Tuesday off the province of Taiz, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement. 

The bodies of 11 men and two women were recovered along the shore of Bab el-Mandeb Strait that links the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, while the 14 others — including the two Yemenis — remain missing.

The migrants departed from Djibouti, the IOM said.

“This latest tragedy is a stark reminder of the perils faced by migrants on this route,” said Matt Huber, IOM’s acting chief in Yemen. 

According to the agency, the number of migrants arriving in Yemen has tripled in recent years, from about 27,000 in 2021 to more than 97,200 last year, the IOM said, and about 380,000 migrants are currently in the conflict-ridden country.

Over the past decade, at least 2,082 migrants disappeared along the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden, including 693 who drowned, the IOM said.