Ethiopia on Tuesday asked citizens to “avoid irregular routes,” two days after a boat carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants sank off Yemen, killing at least 76 and leaving dozens missing.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 157 people were on board when the vessel sank on Sunday in the Gulf of Aden.

It was headed for the Abyan governorate in southern Yemen, a popular destination for boats smuggling Africans hoping to reach wealthy Gulf states.

“Ethiopia mourns the tragic loss of 60+ (plus) citizens in a maritime disaster off Yemen’s coast,” Ethiopia’s permanent mission in Geneva wrote on X adding that authorities in Addis Ababa are “working with partners to investigate and urges citizens to avoid irregular routes.”

Thousands of Africans travel from Djibouti to Yemen across the Red Sea, hoping to reach oil-rich Gulf states to work as laborers or domestic workers.

Many are from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, which was ravaged by war between 2020 and 2022.

The Red Sea migrant route is one of the world’s most dangerous, according to IOM, which documented at least 558 deaths last year.

In March, at least 180 people were reported missing off the Yemeni coast, the vast majority of them Ethiopians.