Sixty migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia and two Yemeni crew members drowned last weekend in the worst recorded tragedy off the coast of Yemen this year, the UN said Friday.
"The tragedy is the largest single loss of life of migrants and refugees attempting to reach Yemen via the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden this year," Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN's refugee agency, told reporters in Geneva.
Although information was still being gathered by the UN agency, it was confirmed that the tragic incident witnessed the boat carrying 60 Ethiopian and Somali migrants and two Yemeni crew members sink last Saturday in the Red Sea, Agence France-Presse reported.
"The victims were reportedly buried by local residents after their bodies washed ashore near the Bab El Mandeb area off Yemen's coast," Edwards said, adding that the UNHCR did not know where the boat begun it journey.
In addition to previous tragedies in the same area, at least 121 people have so far died this year trying to reach Yemen.
During the first four months of 2014 alone, the arrival of 16,500 refugees and migrants has been documented on the Yemeni coast, UNHCR said.
Yemen is mainly used as a transit country, with African migrants often aiming to move on to the wealthy Gulf countries to find work, according to AFP.
"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," he said.
"Boats are overcrowded and smugglers have reportedly thrown passengers overboard to prevent capsizing or avoid detection," he added, pointing out that search-and-rescue officials estimate this has resulted in hundreds of undocumented deaths in recent years.
In recent years, thousands more migrants have died at seas while trying to reach Europe.
UNHCR said Friday it was "working to prevent the alarming loss of life at sea and indifference to people desperately needing protection."
"We are reiterating our call for governments in the region to strengthen their search-and-rescue capacities," Edwards said.
