A shipwreck off Yemen has killed at least 68 people, the UN\u2019s migration agency said on Monday, with dozens still missing after the boat carrying mostly Ethiopians sank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The International Organization for Migration\u2019s country chief of mission, Abdusattor Esoev, told AFP<\/em> that \u201cas of last night, 68 people aboard the boat were killed, but only 12 out of 157 have been rescued so far. The fate of the missing is still unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday, two security sources in southern Yemen\u2019s Abyan province \u2014 a frequent destination for migrant smuggling boats \u2014 gave a preliminary toll of 27 killed in the shipwreck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the war<\/a> that has ravaged Yemen since 2014, the impoverished country has remained a key transit point for irregular migration, in particular from Ethiopia which itself has been roiled by ethnic conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each yeah, thousands brave the so-called \u201cEastern Route\u201d from Djibouti to Yemen across the Red Sea, in the hope of eventually reaching oil-rich Gulf countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The vessel that sank off the coast of Yemen\u2019s Abyan was carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants, according to the province\u2019s security directorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It said on Sunday that security forces were conducting operations to recover a \u201csignificant\u201d number of bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n