56 migrants die in Yemen
2007-12-17 09:15
San'a, Yemen - An international aid group said on Sunday that it discovered the bodies of 56 men, women and children on Yemen's southern coast who perished trying to emigrate illegally from Africa.
Medecins Sans Frontieres' team in Yemen found the victims along a 5-kilometre stretch of coast near the town of al-Irqah on Saturday, along with 49 survivors who said they left the Somali port city of Bossasso three days earlier in an attempt to cross the Gulf of Aden.
The survivors said the 8-metre fibreglass boat set off with a total of 148 Somalians and Ethiopians on board, including some 40 women and five children - the youngest eight months old. The group had no food or water, and at least four people died during the trip from the harsh conditions, MSF quoted the survivors as saying in a statement.
The boat arrived off the Yemeni coast in the middle of the night, and the passengers were forced to jump into the water or suffer a severe beating. During the ensuing panic, the passengers rushed to one side of the boat, and the vessel capsized. The fate of those not found dead or alive on the Yemeni coast is unknown.
The MSF team provided medical assistance and offered counselling to the survivors, many of whom had lost multiple relatives or friends.
One 25-year-old Somali man told MSF that he lost his wife, two children and two other close relatives.
Another Somali man said he understood the risk of the journey but had no choice.
"Even if I die in the sea, I need to get to Yemen," MSF quoted him as saying. "Maybe I have a chance to survive, but if I go back to Mogadishu, I will die."
MSF has been providing medical and humanitarian assistance to refugees and migrants who arrive on the Yemeni coast since September 2007, the statement said. Since the beginning of 2007, 27 960 people have crossed the Gulf of Aden to land in Yemen, while 593 have died and another 659 have gone missing.
- AP