Latest news with #AbdulKaderBajamel
Observer
05-08-2025
- Health
- Observer
Over 60 migrants dead after boat capsizes near Yemen
More than 60 migrants were killed when their overloaded boat capsized as they tried to cross the sea between the Horn of Africa and Yemen, the International Organization for Migration said Sunday. The boat trip across the Gulf of Aden is the first part of one of the most dangerous migration and smuggling routes in the world, which desperate men and women from Ethiopia and other East African countries traverse as they attempt to reach oil-rich Saudi Arabia. The boat, believed to have been carrying 150 people, capsized Saturday night near the southern Yemeni province of Abyan, Yemeni health and security officials said. The IOM said in a statement that 68 Ethiopian migrants had died. There were at least 12 survivors. An unknown number of passengers remain missing. The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies wash ashore, the local officials said. 'This heartbreaking incident underscores the urgent need for enhanced protection mechanisms for migrants undertaking perilous journeys, often facilitated by unscrupulous smugglers who exploit desperation and vulnerability,' the IOM statement said. Abdul Kader Bajamel, a health official in Zinjibar, said, 'The bodies of the dead and at least a dozen survivors, including two Yemeni smugglers, were taken to hospitals in Abyan.' He added, 'Because the hospital's morgues could not accommodate this large number of bodies, and to avoid an environmental crisis, the governor of Abyan ordered the immediate burial of the dead and formed an emergency committee to search for the missing.' Salah Balleel, a health official in Khanfar district in Abyan, said that a hospital in the district had received one dead migrant and treated 11 survivors. 'The small boat was carrying far too many people,' Balleel said. 'We provided first aid and other medical assistance, and all the survivors have since left the hospital.' The migrants' journey, called the Eastern Route, is one of the 'busiest and riskiest migration routes in the world,' according to the IOM. Tens of thousands of people attempted the trip last year, fleeing conflict, poverty, drought, or political repression in countries including Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia. To reach Saudi Arabia — where many hope to find work and disappear into a vast informal economy — they must first traverse Yemen, which shares a long, porous border with the kingdom. Its war has torn Yemen apart since 2014, and hundreds of thousands of people died from the violence, disease, and starvation that resulted, in what became one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. This article originally appeared in
UPI
04-08-2025
- General
- UPI
At least 68 migrants killed, many missing after boat sinks off Yemen
A NASA archive image of the southern Yemeni coast on the Gulf of Aden where Sunday's deadly migrant boat sinking occurred with the narrow entrance to the Red Sea shown at far left. File photo NASA/UPI | License Photo Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Dozens of migrants were killed off the coast of Yemen after their vessel went down in the Gulf of Aden in bad weather. At least 68 people died and many more are missing after the boat capsized and sank late Sunday with 157 mostly Ethiopian nationals on board off the southern province of Abyan, the International Organization for Migration said. The IOM's Yemen chief, Abdusattor Esoev, said a major search and rescue operation by provincial authorities had plucked 12 survivors from the sea. Abyan officials said a large number of bodies had washed up on the coast of the province. They said the vessel was overloaded. "The bodies of the dead and at least a dozen survivors, including two Yemeni smugglers, were taken to hospitals in Abyan," Abdul Kader Bajamel, a health official in the Abyan town of Zinjibar, told The New York Times. "Because the hospital's morgues could not accommodate this large number of bodies, and to avoid an environmental crisis, the governor of Abyan ordered the immediate burial of the dead and formed an emergency committee to search for the missing." A health official in Khanfar district said the remains of one migrant had been brought to the hospital there and doctors had treated 11 survivors, all of whom had since been discharged. Calling for more protection for migrants and safe legal routes to prevent them falling into the hands of people-smuggling gangs, Esoev said the stricken boat was making a perilous journey in waters routinely used by smugglers. "What we are advocating for all member states is to enhance their regular pathways so people can take legal ways in order to migrate, instead of being trapped or deceived by smugglers and taking those dangerous journeys," he said. IOM said the so-called Eastern Route moving migrants from countries in the Horn of Africa, including Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, to Gulf countries, for which Yemen is the gateway, was one of "busiest and riskiest migration routes in the world," with 60,000 making the journey last year. Once migrants reach Yemen, they try to cross into Saudi Arabia to find employment and go underground in a huge grey economy in the oil-rich Gulf states. More than 180 migrants were killed in March after two vessels sank in the Red Sea off the coastal town of Dhubab in western Yemen. The only survivors were two members of the crew. IOM said it had documented the deaths or disappearance of more than 3,400 migrants undertaking the Eastern Route since 2014, of whom 1,400 had drowned. Yemen is in the midst of a decade-long internal conflict that has seen the country carved up among several factions, notably Iran-backed Houthi rebels who seized control from the internationally recognized government, which in turn was, and continues to be, backed by a Saudi-led, U.S.-backed military coalition trying to restore it to power. The fighting triggered one of the worst of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with almost 20 million people in need of food, medical and other assistance, more than half of them children, and more than 4.5 million people internally displaced, according to UNICEF.
Irish Times
04-08-2025
- General
- Irish Times
More than 60 people die as migrant boat sinks off Yemen, more missing
More than 60 migrants were killed when their overloaded boat capsized as they tried to cross the sea between the Horn of Africa and Yemen , the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said. The boat trip across the Gulf of Aden is the first part of one of the most dangerous migration and smuggling routes in the world, which desperate men and women from Ethiopia and other East African countries traverse as they attempt to reach oil-rich Saudi Arabia. The boat, believed to have been carrying 150 people, capsized on Saturday night near the southern Yemeni province of Abyan, Yemini health and security officials said. The IOM said 68 Ethiopians had died. There were at least 12 survivors. An unknown number of passengers remain missing. The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies wash ashore, the local officials said. READ MORE 'This heartbreaking incident underscores the urgent need for enhanced protection mechanisms for migrants undertaking perilous journeys, often facilitated by unscrupulous smugglers who exploit desperation and vulnerability,' the IOM statement said. Abdul Kader Bajamel, a health official in Zinjibar, said, 'The bodies of the dead and at least a dozen survivors, including two Yemeni smugglers, were taken to hospitals in Abyan.' He added: 'Because the hospital's morgues could not accommodate this large number of bodies, and to avoid an environmental crisis, the governor of Abyan ordered the immediate burial of the dead and formed an emergency committee to search for the missing.' Salah Balleel, a health official in Khanfar district in Abyan, said a hospital in the district had received one dead migrant and treated 11 survivors. 'The small boat was carrying far too many people,' Balleel said. 'We provided first aid and other medical assistance, and all the survivors have since left the hospital.' The migrants' journey, called the Eastern Route, is one of the 'busiest and riskiest migration routes in the world,' according to the IOM. Tens of thousands of people attempted the trip last year, fleeing conflict, poverty, drought or political repression in countries including Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. To reach Saudi Arabia — where many hope to find work and disappear into a vast informal economy — they must first traverse Yemen, which shares a long, porous border with the kingdom. Yemen has been torn apart by its own war since 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally recognized government from the country's capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led military coalition — backed by US military assistance and weaponry — embarked on a bombing campaign to rout the militia from power. Hundreds of thousands of people died from the violence, disease and starvation that resulted, in what became one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. This article originally appeared in The New York Times .
New York Times
03-08-2025
- Health
- New York Times
More Than 60 Migrants Dead After Boat Capsizes Off the Coast of Yemen
More than 60 migrants were killed when their overloaded boat capsized as they tried to cross the sea between the Horn of Africa and Yemen, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday. The boat trip across the Gulf of Aden is the first part of one of the most dangerous migration and smuggling routes in the world, which desperate men and women from Ethiopia and other East African countries traverse as they attempt to reach oil-rich Saudi Arabia. The boat, believed to have been carrying 150 people, capsized on Saturday night near the southern Yemeni province of Abyan, Yemini health and security officials said. The I.O.M. said in a statement said that 68 Ethiopian migrants had died. There were at least 12 survivors. An unknown number of passengers remain missing. The death toll is expected to rise as more bodies wash ashore, the local officials said. 'This heartbreaking incident underscores the urgent need for enhanced protection mechanisms for migrants undertaking perilous journeys, often facilitated by unscrupulous smugglers who exploit desperation and vulnerability,' the I.O.M. statement said. Abdul Kader Bajamel, a health official in Zinjibar, said, 'The bodies of the dead and at least a dozen survivors, including two Yemeni smugglers, were taken to hospitals in Abyan.' He added, 'Because the hospital's morgues could not accommodate this large number of bodies, and to avoid an environmental crisis, the governor of Abyan ordered the immediate burial of the dead and formed an emergency committee to search for the missing.' Salah Balleel, a health official in Khanfar district in Abyan, said that a hospital in the district had received one dead migrant and treated 11 survivors. 'The small boat was carrying far too many people,' Mr. Balleel said. 'We provided first aid and other medical assistance, and all the survivors have since left the hospital.' The migrants' journey, called the Eastern Route, is one of the 'busiest and riskiest migration routes in the world,' according to the I.O.M. Tens of thousands of people attempted the trip last year, fleeing conflict, poverty, drought or political repression in countries including Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. To reach Saudi Arabia — where many hope to find work and disappear into a vast informal economy — they must first traverse Yemen, which shares a long, porous border with the kingdom. Yemen has been torn apart by its own war since 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally recognized government from the country's capital, Sana. A Saudi-led military coalition — backed by American military assistance and weaponry — embarked on a bombing campaign to rout the militia from power. Hundreds of thousands of people died from the violence, disease and starvation that resulted, in what became one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
