December 24, 2025 01:51 pm (IST)
Follow us:
UN reports 62 dead in boat tragedy in Red Sea this year
New York, Jun 7 (IBNS): The United Nations refugee agency said on Friday that 62 people are confirmed to have died when their boat foundered while trying to cross the Red Sea from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, making it the deadliest sinking this year.
“We are still seeking information, but it is now confirmed that a boat carrying 60 people from Somalia and Ethiopia and two Yemeni crew sank last Saturday in the Red Sea,” Adrian Edwards, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told reporters in Geneva.
The victims were reportedly buried by local residents after their bodies washed ashore in Yemen’s Al Jadeed area.
“The tragedy is the largest single loss of life this year of migrants and refugees attempting to reach Yemen via the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,” Edwards said.
The tragedy follows previous incidents in January, March and April, bringing the known total of deaths at sea of people trying to reach Yemen to at least 121 so far this year.
“UNHCR strongly believes that every life counts and is working to prevent the alarming loss of life at sea and indifference to people desperately needing protection,” said Edwards.
“We are reiterating our call for Governments in the region to strengthen their search-and-rescue capacities, their arrangements for securing safe disembarkation of those rescued and proper identification, and assistance and referral of vulnerable people in need of protection and assistance,” he added.
UNHCR stands ready to support Yemen in these activities, along with other measures to boost the protection system in the region. The agency has documented the arrival of 16,500 refugees and migrants on the Yemeni coast during the first four months of 2014, significantly less than the 35,000 received in the same period last year.
Over the past five years, more than half-a-million people (mainly Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans) have crossed the dangerous waters of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to reach Yemen.
According to UNHCR, boats are overcrowded and smugglers have reportedly thrown passengers overboard to prevent capsizing or avoid detection. Search-and-rescue officials say the practice has resulted in hundreds of undocumented casualties in recent years.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Bamako under siege: Al-Qaida-linked JNIM pushes Mali—and West Africa—toward a security breaking point
Tue, Dec 23 2025
Who Is Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov? Senior Russian military officer killed in Moscow car bomb attack
Mon, Dec 22 2025
From Kabaddi to Courtroom: Three Indian-origin men sent to prison over violence during 2023 UK kabaddi event
Sun, Dec 21 2025
South Africa hit by second mass shooting this month; 10 dead
Sun, Dec 21 2025
Taipei metro attacks: Smoke grenades, stabbing rampage kill 3, trigger security alert across Taiwan
Sat, Dec 20 2025
Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah Tower to surpass Burj Khalifa, set to become world’s tallest building
Fri, Dec 19 2025
Asim Munir under pressure as Trump wants Pakistani troops in Gaza
Wed, Dec 17 2025