JOHANNESBURG: Dozens of refugees and illegal immigrants from east Africa were feared drowned in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday after smugglers forced them off a boat at gunpoint, 10km from the coast of Yemen, according to a UN official.

At least 21 people died and fears were mounting for another 80 thought to have been aboard the vessel, with most of the victims said to be women and children too weak to swim ashore.

Of more than 150 passengers, only 55 are known to have survived.

The boat left a small Somali fishing village on September 9 packed with Ethiopians and Somalis fleeing war and poverty, but after two days the smugglers decided to dump their cargo, beating the refugees and ordering them overboard.

“They (the smugglers) panicked and become extremely ruthless and threw everyone out,” said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees.

The boat was said to be headed for al-Mukalla, a port in southern Yemen, but 10km short of their destination the traffickers turned on the refugees.

One theory was that they feared being caught by a Yemeni patrol boat, which could spell years in jail and confiscation of their vessel.

Mr Colville said it was unusual that so many of those on board were Ethiopians, as the route tended to be used by Somalis.

Yemen, at the southernmost tip of the Arabian peninsula, is extremely poor and underdeveloped, but refugees still consider life there preferable to the chaos and devastation of Somalia after a decade of civil war. Ethiopia is at peace, but many of its fleeing citizens hope to build a new life far away from their former poverty and hunger.

The UNHCR said armed traffickers forced 30 Somalis overboard last month as they approached the Yemeni coast. At least 12 drowned. Another 30 were reported missing by survivors who were rescued by a Spanish trawler after their boat lost power, leaving them adrift without water for 10 days.

In April, more than 90 people making the crossing were reported to have drowned when their boat sank.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.