At least 70 drown as Ethiopian boat capsizes

At least 70 Ethiopians drowned when a boat used by smugglers to transport illegal migrants to Yemen sank in the Red Sea in rough weather, security authorities in the western part of Yemen said on Sunday.

Human traffickers often use unseaworthy boats to smuggle African migrants to Yemen, seen as a gateway to wealthier parts of the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, and the West.

Security authorities in Yemen's Taiz province said the small boat sank on Saturday due to high winds and rough seas off the country's al-Makha port.

They said everyone on board was Ethiopian.

Tens of thousands of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and beyond crowd into often unsafe boats each year. Many are trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, seeking a better life in Europe, but the journey is fraught with danger.

In March, Italy's navy rescued more than 4,000 migrants from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean sea south of Sicily in just four days in the same month that at least 42 illegal African migrants drowned in the Arabian Sea off the southern coast of Yemen.

Italy has called on the European Union to provide more assistance in dealing with the surge in refugees who are fleeing unrest in North Africa and in the Middle East at the rate of tens of thousands per year.

Al Jazeera and wire services