Aden [Yemen], August 8 (ANI): The death toll from a migrant boat capsizing off Yemen's coast has risen to 68, with 74 others still missing, local officials have been cited as per several media reports.

Xinhua news agency stated that the search and rescue operations continued amid rough seas, local officials said on Sunday.

The boat with dozens of migrants, mostly from Ethiopia, sank off the coast of Abyan province in southern Yemen at dawn due to bad weather conditions, a security source told the Anadolu news agency.

Rescue teams have recovered 68 bodies throughout the day along the coastline of southern Abyan province, while 12 survivors were pulled from the water earlier in the morning, according to Abdul Qader Bajamil, director of the health office in Abyan province, as cited by Xinhua.

The survivors were immediately transferred to Shaqra General Hospital for emergency medical treatment. Reports said some of the survivors remain in critical condition due to prolonged exposure to seawater and exhaustion.

The tragedy occurred Saturday night when a smuggling boat carrying 154 Ethiopian migrants capsized around 11 pm (local time) due to severe weather conditions and strong winds in the waters off Abyan province.

On Sunday, Abyan police said in a statement that rescue teams were conducting a large-scale humanitarian operation to recover the bodies, adding that the migrants attempted to reach Yemen and subsequently to Gulf countries via a smuggling boat from the Horn of Africa.

According to the Yemen Window news agency, cited by Anadolu, the bodies of 25 Ethiopian migrants were retrieved from the shores of Shaqra and Zinjibar cities.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 60,000 illegal migrants have arrived in Yemen in 2024 alone.

Many migrants from the Horn of Africa set off on perilous journeys to Yemen, driven by the hope of reaching other countries in search of a better life. But along the way, they fall prey to exploitation, violence and human trafficking, the UN agency said. (ANI)