Over 30 Africans drown off Yemen after boat capsizes

At least 30 African refugees and migrants drowned off the coast of Yemen this week in a boat operated by smugglers who are reported to have fired on passengers, the United Nations said on Friday.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement that survivors reported the overcrowded boat packed with at least 101 Ethiopians and 51 Somalis had departed towards Djibouti on Tuesday from Aden’s al Buraiqa district.

“The vessel is believed to have been operated by unscrupulous smugglers who were attempting to take refugees and migrants to Djibouti, while also trying to extort more money from these refugees and migrants. The boat capsized amid reports of gunfire being used against the passengers,” it said.

Migrant drownings between Yemen and the Horn of Africa are recorded much less often than on the route between North Africa and Europe, but IOM spokesman Joel Millman said 87,000 people risked their lives to reach Yemen last year.

“There’s a flourishing trade, there’s no question,” he told a regular UN briefing in Geneva.

“There’s also an enormous trafficking industry within Yemen — people still heading further on into the Gulf states for work. That’s the reason why many of them are in Yemen at all, for further travel to the Emirates.”

Millman doubted there were large numbers leaving Yemen by boat because most people who were stuck there did not have the means to get away.