Ethiopian, Somali migrants forced into sea off Yemen

Five bodies had been sighted and 50 other boat migrants were still missing and "presumed dead," a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM,) the UN-affiliated agency based in Geneva said on Thursday.

More than 180 people were forced off a boat trafficking migrants near Shabwa province, southern Yemen. 

The incident followed roughly a day after smugglers pushed around 120 people off a boat near the coast of Shabwa, resulting in around 50 migrants drowning - with another 22 still missing. On Wednesday, IOM staff in Yemen said they had found the shallow graves of 29 migrants, with an average age of only 16, buried by survivors on a beach in the province.

Survivors, thought to number about 70, told the IOM that smugglers had pushed them into the sea after seeing "authority types" on the coast. The smugglers then returned to Somalia.

A further 22 boat occupants among Wednesday's total of 120 were still missing, the IOM added, describing the practice as "shocking and inhumane."

A route to the Gulf states

Since January, an estimated 55,000 migrants have left the Horn of Africa for war-torn Yemen, the majority being under the age of 18, according to the IOM. Most of them are seeking to travel on from Yemen to oil-rich Gulf states in search of work.

Crossing the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea is particularly dangerous because of strong currents and high winds.

Yemen, which was already a poor country, has been crippled for two years by a war between Shiite Houthi rebels and President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, whose government is backed by a Saudi-led coalition.

The International Red Cross said on Wednesday the breakdown of Yemeni society had left humanitarian organizations treating "chronic disease that nobody should die of," such as diabetes.

Millions were at risk of famine and aid groups were concentrating on battling cholera. The epidemic has already claimed 1,900 lives since April, according to the Red Cross. 

Despite the conflict, migrants still seek transit through Yemen, often toward its land border with Saudi Arabia.

ipj/msh (Reuters, AFP)