The boat was among a group of four vessels carrying migrants from the Horn of Africa to Yemen, a UN official and a Yemeni human rights activist said. More than 280 were aboard the boats. Thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians try to escape to the Arabian peninsula each year, many hoping to eventually reach Europe.

At least 169 survivors made it to shore in southern Yemen's Shabwa province. Many of the survivors said they were fleeing violence in Somalia, where government forces recently battled a radical Islamic movement with the help of troops from neighbouring Ethiopia.