At least 70 Ethiopian migrants have lost their lives in an incident during which their boat sank off the coast of Yemen, the Yemeni Interior Ministry says.
The Interior Ministry said on Monday that the incident took place off the port city of Al-Makha, near the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb.
Authorities in Taiz said that the accident was caused by high winds and rough waters.
The statement added that all those on board had died.
In a similar accident in May, about 60 migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia drowned off the coast of Yemen.
Such incidents are common as smugglers usually use unsafe and overcrowded boats to carry migrants fleeing troubled countries in the Horn of Africa.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of migrants and asylum seekers from the region losing their lives on their way to Yemen in 2014 was the highest in recent years.
According to unofficial estimates, Yemen is home to as many as two million migrants, mostly illegal, who have arrived from neighboring countries.
Yemen is seen as a gateway to wealthier countries such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, as well as European nations.
