A ship carrying 157 migrants sank, leaving 32 confirmed survivors, 76 confirmed deaths, and 49 missing. The Pope sent his prayers and condolences.
In a telegram published on August 4, 2025, Pope Leo XIV expressed his sadness at the death of migrants in a shipwreck off the coast of Yemen. According to the United Nations, the ship, which had come from Djibouti, was carrying 157 people at the time of the accident.
The passengers on the vessel are reported to all be Ethiopian nationals.
The Yemeni government announced that it had recovered 76 bodies and rescued 32 people, with the rest currently missing.
In his message signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the Pope commended the victims and their loved ones to “the loving mercy of almighty God” and invoked “divine strength, comfort, and hope.”
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Yemen, located at the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has been experiencing unrest and armed conflict for decades, and civil war since 2014.
This has led to people fleeing the country, although according to The Guardian, it is also a "popular transit point for irregular immigration" from other countries on the way to wealthy Gulf states.
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