Boat carrying migrants capsizes off Yemeni coast; at least 54 dead, dozens missing
Aden: At least 54 migrants are reported to have died as a boat sank off the coast of Yemen due to bad weather on Sunday, with health officials stating that dozen others who were in the boat are missing.
According to a report by Reuters, security sources have said that the boat carrying around 150 people capsized in the Arabian Sea off the Ahwar coast in the southern Abyan province of Yemen.
A provincial health officer Abdul Qadir Bajameel has said that 10 people in the boat, including nine Ethiopians and one Yemeni, were rescued, but dozens of people are still missing. Two medics have said that rescuers were looking for survivors.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that Yemen has been experiencing a significant increase in the number of irregular migrants from Africa. Migrants hoping to reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in search of jobs are known to cross the Bab al-Mandab strait separating Djibouti and Eritrea to enter Yemen each year.
The IOM has called the route from the Horn of Africa to Yemen as one of the busiest and most dangerous mixed migration routes in the world. It added that, in 2024, more than 60,000 migrants were recorded to have arrived in Yemen.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Indigo crisis: Shivakumar urges Centre to act immediately, bring situation under control
Bengaluru (PTI): With large scale flight cancellations by Indigo airlines leaving passengers stranded, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday urged the Centre to act immediately and bring the situation under control.
He called the IndiGo fiasco a the direct result of the govt's monopoly model.
Taking to social media platform 'X', Shivakumar said India is witnessing the worst aviation meltdown in its history. "Thousands of flights cancelled - leaving our people stranded everywhere".
"The IndiGo fiasco is the direct result of the govt's monopoly model. And as always, it is ordinary Indians who are paying the price," he said.
Shivakumar said that the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, which is India's 3rd busiest airport with nearly 40 million travellers a year, is in complete chaos.
"This is hurting families, businesses and our national reputation. I urge the Union Government to act immediately and bring this situation under control. Our people deserve better," he added.
Domestic carrier IndiGo cancelled over 800 flights on Saturday, the fifth day of the ongoing crisis, even as the government imposed a cap on airfares and directed the airline to process all refunds by Sunday evening.
