Migrant boats capsize off Yemen, 2 dead & 186 missing

Cairo: Four boats carrying migrants from Africa capsized overnight in waters off Yemen and Djibouti, the UN migration agency said Friday. At least two people died, and 186 others were missing.

Two of the boats capsized off Yemen late Thursday, said Tamim Eleian, a spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration. Two crewmembers were rescued, but 181 migrants and five Yemeni crewmembers remain missing, he told The Associated Press.

Two other boats capsized off the tiny African nation of Djibouti around the same time, he said. Two bodies of migrants were recovered, and all others on board were rescued.

Despite a nearly decade-long civil war, Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries for work, with hundreds of thousands attempting the route each year. To reach Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.