56 African migrants found dead off Yemeni coast

AP | December 17, 2007

A boat loaded with hopeful immigrants sails through the Gulf of Aden in 2002 (AFP)

SANAA, Yemen – An international aid group says it has discovered the bodies of 56 men, women and children on Yemen’s southern coast.

Medecins Sans Frontieres says the victims perished trying to emigrate illegally from Africa.

An MSF team in Yemen found them along a five-kilometre stretch of coast near the town of al-Irqah on Saturday. Forty-nine survivors were also found.

The survivors say they left the Somali port city of Bossasso three days earlier in an attempt to cross the Gulf of Aden.

The group had no food or water, and at least four people died during the trip from the harsh conditions.

MSF has been providing medical and humanitarian assistance to refugees and migrants who arrive on the Yemeni coast since September 2007.

Since the beginning of this year, nearly 28-thousand people have crossed the Gulf of Aden to land in Yemen. Almost 600 people have died and another 659 have gone missing.

180 died in recent days: BBC

About 180 African migrants are believed to have died in the Red Sea in the last few days while trying to reach Yemen, a Somali diplomat in Yemen has said.
Hussein Haji Ahmed said two boats had capsized off the Yemeni coast.

Earlier, the aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres said it had found the bodies of 56 Africans who had drowned as their boat approached Yemen’s coast.

Nearly 28,000 Somalis have crossed to Yemen this year, either to escape fighting in Somalia or to seek work.
Almost 600 people are believed to have died and another 650 have gone missing, according to international aid agencies.

Capsized

In a statement, MSF said its staff in Yemen had found the bodies of 56 Africans who had died trying to cross the Gulf of Aden along a 5-km (3-mile) stretch of coast near the southern town of al-Irqah on Saturday.

The 49 survivors found nearby said they had left the Somali port city of Bossaso three days earlier.

The migrants told MSF they had set out in an 8-m (26-ft) fibreglass boat with 148 Somalis and Ethiopians on board, including 40 women and five children.

At least four people died during the trip because there was no food or water on board, the survivors said.

As the boat approached the Yemeni coast, the smugglers forced the passengers to jump into the water or suffer a beating, they added.

The vessel capsized when the passengers rushed to one side during the ensuing panic.