Tuesday, February 13, 2007
UNHCR said unconfirmed reports from survivors placed the death toll as high as 78.
The accident happened on Monday when a vessel smuggling 120 people across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen capsized as it approached the coast.
"Apparently bodies are washing ashore in various places," Ron Redmond, spokesperson for the UN high commissioner for refugees, told reporters in Geneva.
Military officials in Yemen told UNHCR they rescued 40 people from the capsized boat and buried the bodies of 30 others, Redmond said. But the agency said survivors who made it to a UNHCR centre in Yemen said up to 78 people perished.
Three other boats carrying a total of 120 migrants to Yemen reached the shore safely, said Redmond.
According to UNHCR figures, more than 27 000 people fled to Yemen from Somalia last year. Several hundred people have died in the last year making the perilous crossing.
Yemen has increased coastal patrols, forcing smugglers to make the journey across the Gulf of Aden by night and increasing the risk of accidents.
Many of the Somali migrants are fleeing violence their homeland, where government forces recently battled a radical Islamic movement with the help of troops from neighbouring Ethiopia.
Source: AP, Feb 13, 2007