Sixty African refugees found dead on Yemen's south-eastern coast

The corpses of sixty African refugees, believed to be from Somalia and Ethiopia, were found on Yemen’s south-eastern coast over the weekend after smugglers forced many of them overboard, Medicins Sans Frontieres  (MSF) said Monday.

MSF said the latest victims on the notoriously dangerous smuggling route had attempted to cross the Gulf of Aden from the Somali port city of Bosasso, fleeing war and poverty in their homeland.

In one incident, smugglers tipped the refugees into the sea at night after they noticed lights on land and feared they would be spotted by the coastguard, MSF quoted survivors as saying.

"They forced us into the sea, even if the water was too deep. Several people did not know how to swim and they drowned," one survivor said. An eight-month pregnant woman was injured by the boat's propeller after being forced overboard.
 
In a second incident, MSF workers discovered a group who had made it to shore after their boat capsized. They said they had buried 23 fellow passengers.

"The boat was stuck almost upside down in the sand, not far from the beach. The fishermen were trying to find survivors underneath but they could not," said an MSF worker, said.

"So I had to dive under. I managed to get in the hull and with God's help; we got two women and a man out safe."

According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, about 32,000 people got safely to Yemen from Somalia between the start of the year and October. At least 230 people had died, and 365 were missing, the agency said last month. 

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