SANAA, Yemen / ISTANBUL 

At least 55 irregular African migrants were killed when a boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, officials said Sunday.

The boat with dozens of migrants, mostly from Ethiopia, sank off the coast of Abyan province in southern Yemen at dawn due to bad weather conditions, a security source told Anadolu.

Abdel Qader Bajameel, director of the Health Office in Zinjibar, the provincial capital, told Anadolu that the bodies of 54 Ethiopians and one Yemeni have been recovered. Authorities are still searching for dozens of missing passengers.

Bajameel said all the victims have been buried.

Earlier Sunday, Abyan police said in a statement that rescue teams were conducting a large-scale humanitarian operation to recover the bodies, adding that the migrants attempted to reach Yemen via a smuggling boat from the Horn of Africa.

According to the Yemen Window news agency, the bodies of 25 Ethiopian migrants were retrieved from the shores of Shaqra and Zinjibar cities.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 60,000 illegal migrants have arrived in Yemen in 2024 alone.

Yemen is a common destination for hundreds of illegal migrants from the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia and Ethiopia, who undertake this perilous journey in hopes of reaching Gulf countries to seek better living conditions.