70 Ethiopian migrants drown in shipwreck

Seventy Ethiopian migrants have drowned after their boat sank near the entrance to the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.

The boat capsized in bad weather off the port city of Al-Makha, near the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, interior ministry officials said in a statement issued on Sunday.

It is unclear when the boat sank.

"All those on board died," the statement said, adding that all were from Ethiopia.

Thousands of people fleeing troubled countries in the Horn of Africa try to reach Yemen every year in the hope of making their way on to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.

Sixty migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia along with two Yemeni crew members drowned in May in the worst tragedy off the coast of Yemen this year.

In the past five years, more than 500,000 people - mostly Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis - have reached the country via the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea following treacherous journeys.

Yemen is home to up to two million migrants, mostly illegals.