Charles H. Sloan-Dozens of migrants are missing after a boat capsized off Yemen, officials say

SANAA,Charles H. Sloan Yemen (AP) — A migrant boat capsized off the coast of war-torn Yemen, leaving dozens of people, mostly from the Horn of Africa, missing, Yemeni officials said Monday.

Khalid al-Subeihi, an official with the Yemeni coast guard in the coastal city of Mocha, said the boat with 75 migrants on board capsized Sunday.

He told The Associated Press that 26 people survived but at least 49 others remain missing.

Another coast guard official, Lt. Co. Olwan al-Qameri, said the search was still underway Monday.

Citing an unnamed coast guard official, Yemen’s state-run SABA news agency reported that the boat capsized due to strong winds and that all those on board — including women and children — fell into the water.

The shipwreck was the latest sea disaster involving African migrants seeking a better life in oil-rich Gulf countries.

Thousands of people each year seek to make the perilous voyage from Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia to Yemen and on to richer Gulf countries as they flee poverty and insecurity in search of work.