As many as 78 Somalis, Ethiopians drown off Yemen: UN
Pastor Dale Morgan
As many as 78 Somalis, Ethiopians drown off Yemen: UN*
Reuters
Tuesday, February 13, 2007; 7:17 AM
GENEVA (Reuters) - As many as 78 Somali and Ethiopian migrants drowned
when a smuggler's boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, the United
Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday, adding it was checking reports
the death toll was as high as 80.
Yemeni armed forces told the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees they
had rescued 40 people from the vessel, which migrants on other boats
said had carried some 120 people.
"Once again the Gulf of Aden has claimed the lives of at least 30
Somalis and Ethiopians when the boat smuggling them from Somalia to
Yemen capsized on approach to the Yemeni coast on Monday," UNHCR
spokesman Ron Redmond told a briefing.
"We know it is at least 30 and possibly as high as 78."
He said the agency was still checking on the higher death toll, which
came from a construction company helping to bury the dead migrants along
the coastline.
It was the second mass drowning of African migrants this month in the
Gulf of Aden.
Fifteen Ethiopian and Somali migrants died after traffickers forced
hundreds of passengers to disembark from two boats far from the Yemeni
shore in early February.
Smugglers, usually Somali, often drop the migrants in deep waters as the
Yemeni coast guard has increased patrols near shore, according to the UNHCR.
Some 27,000 people made the perilous journey from Somalia last year,
fleeing fighting in the volatile Horn of Africa nation between the
Ethiopian army and an Islamist movement.
Islamist forces ran most of south Somalia for six months until they were
ousted in an offensive by the government and Ethiopia over the New Year.