52 Somali migrants die off Yemen coast

Published September 30, 2008

SANAA: Fifty-two Somalis died off the coast of Yemen after the ship smuggling them broke down and they were left adrift for 18 days without food or water, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Sunday. Rescuers saved 71 people, aged between two to 40, when the ship drifted into Yemeni waters, Geneva-based UNHCR said in a statement. They had paid up to $100 each for the voyage to the Arabian Peninsula country.

“The knife-wielding crew of the smuggling boat told passengers they would travel to the Somali city of Bossaso in a smaller boat to re-charge a battery and then return as soon as possible.—Reuters

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