More than 100 Somali and Ethiopian migrants drowned off the coast of Yemen
after a smuggler's boat capsized earlier this week in the Gulf of Aden, the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said yesterday.
The Geneva-based agency said 107 bodies had been found along a remote stretch
of the Yemen coastline after one out of four smuggler's boats approaching the
coastline capsized far from the shore on Monday. Survivors said at least five
people remain missing.
According to witnesses, the capsized smuggler's boat was carrying 120 Somalis
and Ethiopians. After it overturned, a second smuggling vessel, also carrying
120 people, forced all its passengers into the sea, picked up the smugglers from
the capsized vessel and headed back into the Gulf of Aden. The 240 people were
left in the high seas.
"The Somalis said they fled their homes during and following the end of
recent hostilities between government forces and the Islamic Courts Union,"
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.