Fifty-five African migrants feared dead in SECOND drowning incident off Yemen

Some 180 Ethiopian and Somali were forced into rough seas off Yemen by smugglers and 55 of them are presumed to have drowned, the UN migration agency has said.

Thursday’s tragedy was the second such incident in as many days off Shabwa province in southern Yemen, where 50 teenage African migrants were “deliberately drowned” on Wednesday by a smuggler who forced 120 passengers off his boat, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

The IOM said it feared the incidents might mark the start of a new trend in people-smuggling that could lead to more deaths.

Smugglers were reportedly pushing migrants into the sea away from the mainland so as to avoid encountering possibly armed groups on shore in the war-torn country — they were then going back to pick up more migrants.

“We have seen five bodies and can confirm five dead … fifty are still missing from this incident, so 55 are presumed dead,” IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon said.

Source: Fifty-five African migrants feared dead in second drowning incident off Yemen, UN says – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)