The Yemeni interior ministry said Monday that 24 Ethiopian migrants were found dead after their boat sank off the Yemeni coast.In a statement posted on its website, the ministry said the boat sank off the Red Sea coast of Yemen's southwestern province of Taiz, Xinhua reported.It said the rescue operation has been launched to search for survivors off the port city of Al-Makha. The statement did not tell when the boat sank.
It was the second accident in the Yemeni waters in less than a month. On Dec 7, about 70 Ethiopean migrants drowned after their boat sank in the Red Sea due to bad weather.According to media reports, hundreds of Africans drown every year while trying to reach Yemen in crowded boats.Over 62,000 asylum seekers, refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen from the Horn of Africa in 2013, according to the United Nations' refugee agency.