SANAA, 14 September 2003 — At least 45 people drowned when crew of a boat carrying African refugees to Yemen forced them at gunpoint to jump into the water as they neared the coast, Yemeni police officials said yesterday.
The officials said the crew of the boat that was carrying about 100 people, mostly Somalis, forced passengers to jump into the water about six miles off the coast on Thursday night.
Some 55 people managed to reach the coast of the Maifa Hajr and Proom towns near the Arabina Sea port city of Mukalla, some 800 km southest of the capital Sanaa, with the help of Yemeni fishermen, one official told Arab News.
The official said 18 bodies were recovered on Friday. He said Ethiopians were among the passengers of the boat that sailed from the northeastern Somali port of Bossaso.
An official at the UN High Commission for Refugees’ regional office in the southern port city of Aden confirmed the incident, saying the organization had sent a team to Mukalla to provide help to the survivors.
Hundreds of Somalis have died in boat incidents trying to reach Yemen as refugees since their country descended into chaos after the ouster of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
The most recent tragedy took place in August when about 30 refugees died after being forced to jump into the sea from a boat near the Yemeni coast. According to estimates by Yemeni authorities, at least 9000 Somali refugees drowned in boat incidents in 2002 while trying to reach Yemen.
