At least eight dead in fire at Yemeni migrant center, UN says

Some 100,000 migrants from countries like Somalia and Ethiopia reach Yemen each year by boat from the Horn of Africa, the IOM says. Once in Yemen, migrants tend to search for employment as nannies, housekeepers, construction workers and manual laborers in the wealthy Gulf states.

But thousands are stranded in the war-torn country, the IOM says, where they face “extreme danger, exploitation and abuse.” In January, more than 2,500 migrants arrived in Yemen — the Arab world’s poorest country — from neighboring Djibouti.

The pandemic has significantly slowed migrant travel. Some 37,500 people embarked on the journey in 2020, compared to roughly 138,000 people in 2019, the migration agency said.

Last week, at least 20 migrants traveling to Yemen from Djibouti drowned after dozens were thrown overboard by smugglers, the latest such incident in the Gulf of Aden in recent months. An IOM statement said “smugglers started shouting there were too many onboard” the crammed vessel and forced some 80 people into the sea.