Scores drown as human trafficker forces them off boat near Yemen

According to survivors, the smuggler pushed 120 refugees or migrants into the sea as they approached the coast of Shabwa out of fear arrest. At least 50 died, mostly Somali and Ethiopian teenagers.

IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon says the average age of the refugees and migrants on the boat is believed to have been 16 years.
TRT World and Agencies

IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon says the average age of the refugees and migrants on the boat is believed to have been 16 years.

Roughly 50 teenage Somalis and Ethiopians were "deliberately drowned" early on Wednesday by a smuggler who forced 120 passengers into the sea off Yemen's coast, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

"The survivors told our colleagues on the beach that the smuggler pushed them into the sea when he saw some 'authority types' near the coast," Laurent de Boeck, the IOM Yemen Chief of Mission, said in a statement.

"They also told us that the smuggler has already returned to Somalia to continue his business and pick up more migrants to bring to Yemen on the same route," he said.

IOM staff found the bodies of 29 African refugees or migrants buried in shallow graves on the beach in Yemen's southern province of Shabwa along the Gulf of Aden, while another 22 were missing after the tragedy, according to survivors.

"They were all quite young, the average age was around 16," IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon said.

IOM officials spoke with 27 survivors who reported that a further 42 people had survived but had already left the beach, she said.

Why is war-torn Yemen part of the refugee or migrant route? Laurent De Boeck of the International Organisation for Migration speaks to TRT World on the issue.

The migrants, who included some young women, were headed to war-torn Yemen in order to seek opportunities in Gulf countries. Already this year 55,000 migrants from the Horn of Africa have taken the hazardous route, IOM said.

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