ADEN: At least 54 migrants died when a boat sank off Yemen`s coast due to bad weather on Sunday, medics said. Dozens remain missing after the incident, according to health authorities in Abyan Governorate in the south of the country.

Al Jazeera quoting Abdul Qader Bajamil, director of the health office in Zanzibar, said that rescue teams had recovered 54 bodies from the beaches there and surrounding areas, while 12 survivors were transferred to Shagra Hospital.

The boat carrying approximately 150 people, mostly from Ethiopia, capsized in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Shagra, in the Abyan Governorate, due to strong winds on Saturday evening.

Bajamil noted that authorities were making arrangements to bury the victims in an area near the city, while search operations continued amid difficult conditions.

Abyan province`s security directorate said in a statement that security forces `are currently conductingalarge operationto recoverthe bodies of a significant number of Ethiopian migrants (Oromos) whodrowned off the coast of Abyan while attempting to illegally enter Yemeni territory`.

`Many bodies have been found across various beaches, suggesting that a number of victims are still missing at sea,` it added.

Houthi rebels and government forces reached a truce deal in April 2022 that has resulted in a decrease inviolence and the slight easing of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

`Most perilous` route The waterways between Yemen and the Horn of Africa are a common but perilous route for refugees and migrants travelling in both directions. The area saw a spike in Yemenis fleeing the country after the civil war broke out in 2014.

Meanwhile, some of those fleeing conflict in Africa, particularly in Somalia and Ethiopia, have sought refuge in Yemen or have sought to travelthrough the country to the more prosperous Gulf countries. The route remains one of the `busiest and most perilous` migration routes in the world, according to the United Nations` International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

To reach Yemen, people are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.

According to IOM), more than 60,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen in 2024 alone, marking a significant drop from theprevious year of 97,200. The decreased numbers comes amid increased patrols of the waters, according to an IOM report released in May.

This is a deadly route that has killed hundreds over the past two years. According to the IOM, 558 people died along the route last year. Over the past decade, at least 2,082 people have disappeared along the route, including 693 known to have drowned, according to the IOM. Yemen currently houses around 380,000 refugees and migrants.

Despite the war that has ravaged Yemen since 2014, irregular migration via the impoverished country has continued, in particular from Ethiopia, which itself has been roiled by ethnic conflict.

Migrants cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which separates Djibouti from Yemen and is a major route for international trade headed to and from the Suez Canal, as well as for migration and human trafficking.

The wealthy Gulf monarchies, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, host significant populations of foreign workers from South Asia and Africa.

According to the UN`s International Organisation for Migration, tens of thousands of migrants have become stranded in Yemen and suffer abuse and exploitation during their journeys.

-Agencies