Fourteen people die after boat sinks off Yemen

Eleven survived after the boat was hit by high winds

A boat carrying 25 people capsized off Yemen's Hodeidah province on March 6. Reuters

Eleven women and three children have died after a boat sank off Yemen’s province of Hodeidah, the Houthi-run Saba news agency reported on Wednesday.

The boat was carrying 25 people when it capsized late on Monday amid high winds and waves, sources at the Fisheries Authority were quoted as saying.

It sank between the coastal area of Khoba and Kamaran Island, according to the report.

The group was heading to a relative’s wedding party on Kamaran Island. Eleven people survived.

It was the latest maritime tragedy off Yemen's shores. Most previous shipwrecks in the region have involved African migrants fleeing war and poverty in their home countries.

The migrants risk perilous voyages from Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia to Yemen and on to richer Gulf Arab countries in search of work.

Yemen descended into civil war in 2014, when the rebel Houthis descended from their northern stronghold and seized the capital, Sanaa, along with much of the country’s north. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to try to restore the internationally-recognised government to power.