Two accidents occurred off the coast of Yemen on Thursday. Two people, both crew members, were rescued. 181 migrants who were on board are missing, as well as five more Yemeni crew members.
In close proximity in time, two other boats capsized on the African side of the sea, near the coast of Djibouti. Two migrants died, while all others on board were rescued with their lives intact.
The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden meet in a narrow bottleneck between Djibouti on the Horn of Africa and Yemen on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. Last year, at least 558 people died during sea journeys between these points.
Tens of thousands of people make this journey every year, according to IOM. Many seek to escape from conflict-ridden and poor countries in eastern Africa to richer Gulf states on the Arabian Peninsula, but a large number also get stuck in difficulties in war-torn Yemen.
Over the past decade, as the devastating war has raged in Yemen, many people have also sought to flee from there in the opposite direction.
