11 August,2017 11:41 AM IST | Dubai | Agencies
At least five migrants drowned and 50 went missing yesterday when smugglers forced 180 Africans off a boat bound for Yemen, a day after a similar incident left 50 dead, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said
On Wednesday, people traffickers also forced more than 120 Somali and Ethiopian migrants into rough seas. Pic for representation/AFP
At least five migrants drowned and 50 went missing yesterday when smugglers forced 180 Africans off a boat bound for Yemen, a day after a similar incident left 50 dead, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
Twenty-five people were being treated for injuries on a Yemeni beach on the Red Sea, said the UN migration agency, which could not immediately confirm the nationalities of the casualties.
On Wednesday, people traffickers also forced more than 120 Somali and Ethiopian migrants into rough seas off Yemen to avoid arrest by local authorities, leaving at least 50 dead and 22 missing, the IOM said.
IOM teams, working with International Committee of the Red Cross representation, found the bodies of 29 migrants in shallow graves along the coast of Shabwa province in southern Yemen. They had been buried by survivors. The average age of the migrants was 16.
50
No. of migrants missing since the incident
55,000
No. of migrants headed for Yemen from Horn of Africa since Jan '17
