At least 57 people drowned and dozens more are feared dead after the crew of a boat making an illegal crossing from Somalia to Yemen forced them from the boat at gunpoint several kilometres from shore.
An estimated 200 Somalis and Ethiopians, including children, left Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region in two boats on Wednesday. Their ultimate destination was Saudi Arabia, Jama Mo’alin Omar, a fisherman in the region, said by telephone on Monday.
The 18 smugglers — who were armed with guns, daggers and clubs — appeared to be trying to avoid detection when they forced passengers into the Red Sea while the vessels were about 15km from the Yemeni coastline, Omar said, citing information filtering to relatives in Puntland.
Husein Haji Ahmed, a Somali diplomat in Yemen, said 57 bodies have been recovered from the shore and 38 people survived the ordeal. The rest are still missing.
The dead bodies were immediately buried, he said, adding that a lack of mortuary facilities made it impossible to store the bodies for later identification.
Survivors have been given tents to erect a temporary shelter near the coast and will later be transferred to a Somali refugee centre 480km from the area, he said.
Thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians try to escape poverty in their countries by crossing the Gulf of Aden each year, many hoping to reach the more affluent Europe.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since clan-based warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Warlords then turned on each other, plunging the country of seven million into chaos. — Sapa-AP