Gulf of Aden: 16 Harraga drowned or missing

GENEVA - Sixteen Harraga (illegal immigrants) were drowned or missing in the sinking of two boats of smugglers in the Gulf of Aden last weekend, said Tuesday the High Commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees (UNHCR).

•     The two boats had left Somalia for the Yemeni coast.
  
      The first boat, with 44 Somalis on board, "sank Saturday night when the traffickers have begun to push passengers overboard off the coast of Yemen," said the spokesperson of UNHCR, Andrej Mahecic.
  
      A panic then seized the passengers who all rushed to one side of the boat, causing it to capsize. Thirty-four passengers were able to reach the coast by swimming, seven bodies were collected and three migrants are missing.
  
      The second ship of smugglers carrying 42 Somalis and arrived early Sunday morning near the Yemeni coast. The passengers were then forced to swim to reach the shore. Three of them drowned and three are missing.
  
      In Sanaa, the interior ministry announced on its website that the bodies of seven Somali refugees, including two women, were rescued off the coast of Yemen, and buried after the UNHCR has been informed.
  
      The Somalis are increasingly likely to attempt the dangerous crossing of the Gulf of Aden. "Over the last five days, a total of 17 boats carrying 835 people arrived in Yemen," said the spokesperson of UNHCR.
  
      Since the beginning of the year, about 36,000 Africans who have addressed the coast of Yemen, an increase of 33% over the same period of 2008 during which 590 migrants have drowned and 359 were Missing, he said.
  
      In August, 2675 Somali refugees, including one thousand women and one hundred children, arrived in Yemen, said the Yemeni Ministry of Interior on its website.
  
      The Yemeni security services are concerned about the continuing influx of Somalis fleeing war in their country, adding that their number exceeded one million people, which constitutes a charge "beyond the means of Yemen," the ministry said Interior.
  
      These services require the international community to "stand with the Yemen deal with this humanitarian problem."
  
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.