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Toronto – Over 180 migrants are reportedly missing near Yemen’s shores after two boats capsized, according to a BBC Amharic report on Saturday, citing the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Among the missing, 124 are men, and 57 are women.
The incident occurred near Yemen’s Dhubab district in the Ta’iz governorate. The IOM attributed the accident to adverse weather conditions, as a weather advisory had been issued at the time.
“The boats capsized after smugglers failed to heed to weather warnings issued by Yemen’s Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority, which had advised against travel due to strong winds and high waves. Migrants arriving at Migrant Response Points in Yemen have reported that smugglers are becoming more reckless, knowingly sending boats into dangerous conditions to avoid patrols.,” the IOM stated.
So far, only two survivors have been found. The remaining passengers are presumed dead, though no bodies have been recovered as of the latest reports.
The vessels were carrying individuals from the Horn of Africa attempting to reach the Middle East and Gulf region in search of a “better life.”
While the IOM has not specified the migrants’ nationalities, BBC Amharic cited the Associated Press, which reported that they were from Ethiopia. One of the capsized boats was said to be carrying 31 Ethiopian migrants and three Yemeni boat operators.
Tamim Elyan, an IOM spokesperson, confirmed that 181 migrants and five boat operators are missing after the incident on Thursday.
In a related development, two other boats capsized near Djibouti around the same time, resulting in two fatalities. However, the remaining passengers were rescued.
Such accidents are frequent along these routes, with many victims being trafficked from Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea.
As of now, the Ethiopian government has not issued a statement regarding the incident.
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Woe my people, woe! Woe!!! Woe!!! Woe!!!!!
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If these migrants went through the legal route, they have a high chance. Saudi Arabia despises illegal immigrants so Yemen takes advantage of that. Ethiopians want to clean toliets for Arabs.
I commend media outlets including those among our Diaspora are reporting this avoidable and heartbreaking tragedy. This will not be the end of it. As we speak, it is believed that there are thousands others waiting for the next boat out to take them across the violently churning strait. Such stories of loss of life in this particular route were not given enough coverage by the Western media giants. We hear more stories about those trying to cross the Mediterranean.
I see another double standard in reporting. Lately, we hear stories of a tropical storm heading towards the Queensland state of Australia. That is the right thing to do. But not even is being mentioned about a much more powerful cyclone heading to Mozambique. Cyclone Jude will make a landfall there as a powerful and deadly storm at more than 90mph tomorrow. But we don’t hear about this deadly cyclone. I noticed it 4 days ago and hoped that it will dissipate over the sea between Madagascar and Mozambiques but it started intensifying instead. Let’s have our African kin and kit in our prayers. Insha’Allah!!!
The other demon that was bedeviling the people of the old has not been heard from for the last 4-5 days. There has not been detectable earthquake for almost a week now. It has left the people in the entire region stretching all the way to the Chercher Highlands uneasy. I hope I am not throwing a jinx here and it will start trembling again. So far so good news.