The boat capsized off the Ahwar district in Yemen's southern Abyan province on the Arabian Sea, security sources said.

The International Organization for Migration says Yemen continues to witness a significant increase in the influx of irregular migrants arriving from Africa.

It describes the route from the Horn of Africa to Yemen as "one of the world's busiest and most perilous mixed migration routes". The IOM said it recorded the arrival of more than 60,000 migrants in Yemen last year.