(MENAFN- QNA) Seventy Ethiopians migrants drowned when their boat capsized off the coast of Yemen's Ta'izz province, south of the capital Sana'a.
A Yemeni security officials said the smuggler's boat was aground near the coast of Mocha city because of the extra payload of passengers, strong winds and choppy sea.
The boat came from the Horn of Africa from where smugglers transport thousands of migrants in unseaworthy boats.
Yemeni Coast Guard diving teams launched a search for missing Ethiopians after the boat sank, the official said, and added they are doing the humanitarian operation in co-ordination with the UNHCR High Commissioner for the Refugees the United Nations.
Yemen is facing an influx of a large number of refugees from the Horn of Africa recently.
Yemeni Deputy Foreign Minister Amir Salem Al Aidaroos last month said the country has received around 71,000 refugees since the beginning of 2014.
Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Yemen Nicoletta Giordano earlier said the number of refugee and migrant death has increased significantly compared to previous years.
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