CAIRO – A tragic boat accident occurred off Yemen’s coast on Sunday, resulting in the deaths of 68 African migrants, with an additional 74 individuals still unaccounted for, as reported by the U.N.’s migration agency.

This incident is the latest in a string of shipwrecks near Yemen that have claimed the lives of numerous African migrants striving to reach affluent Gulf Arab nations.

The boat was carrying 154 Ethiopian migrants when it sank near the southern Abyan province, according to Abdusattor Esoev, the head of the International Organization for Migration in Yemen, who spoke to The Associated Press.

He reported that 54 bodies washed ashore in the Khanfar district, while 14 more were retrieved and taken to a morgue in a hospital in Zinjibar, the provincial capital located on Yemen’s southern coast.

Only 12 migrants survived the shipwreck, and the rest were missing and presumed dead, Esoev said.

Despite over a decade of ongoing civil conflict, Yemen remains a key transit point for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa aiming to reach the Gulf Arab states for employment. These migrants often endure perilous journeys on overcrowded boats managed by smugglers across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.

In recent months, hundreds of migrants have perished or remain missing due to shipwrecks near Yemen, including a similar incident in March, where two migrants lost their lives and 186 were missing following the capsizing of four boats off Yemen and Djibouti, as per the IOM.