Monday, January 3, 2011

Over forty migrants drown off Yemen

Two boats carrying migrants from Africa, most of the Ethiopians, capsized off the coasts of southern Yemen, being later than forty-three dead and about forty vanished, said Monday, 3 January the Ministry of the Interior in a statement. "The accident was caused by high winds and a tsunami which capsized two boats carrying them to the coast," the ministry said, citing the coastguard in Aden, the largest city in southern Yemen.

A boat carrying "46 [people], most Ethiopians capsized off the coast (...) in the province of Taiz. All persons on board, but three Somalis, have drowned," says he said. Another boat overturned off the coast of the province of Lahej. He was carrying between thirty-five and forty people, all Ethiopian, "said the statement, which states that women and children were aboard.

"Their fate remains unknown," the statement said, stressing that search operations are underway. It does not, however, what day was held on capsizing. Each year, tens of thousands of Ethiopians and Somalis fleeing their country beset by violence or economic hardship to try to go by boat to Yemen, where they hope to find a better life.

Many people die in boats in poor condition and often crowded, while others, exhausted by their journey, perish in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers. Migrants arrive in southern Yemen before traveling further north to the Saudi border. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of people fleeing the instability in the Horn of Africa to Yemen has increased by 50% in 2009, reaching a record 74,000, taking the Flyway "the most intensely used and the deadliest in the world."

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