Report from International Organization for Migration
Aden – Up to 180 migrants are reported to have been forced from a boat today (10/08) by smugglers off the coast of Yemen. Five bodies have been recovered so far and around 50 are reported missing. This latest incident comes barely 24 hours after smugglers forced more than 120 Somali and Ethiopian migrants into the sea as they approached the coast of Shabwa, a Yemeni Governorate along the Arabian Sea resulting in the drowning of around 50 migrants. The migrants had been hoping to reach countries in the Gulf via war-torn Yemen.
Shortly after the tragedy, staff from IOM, the UN Migration Agency, found the shallow graves of 29 migrants on a beach in Shabwa, during a routine patrol. The dead had been quickly buried by those who survived the smuggler’s deadly actions. IOM is working closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross to ensure appropriate care for the deceased migrants’ remains.
IOM’s medical staff also provided urgent care to the 27 surviving migrants, both females and males, who had remained on the beach. IOM provided initial health checks and assistance, including food, water and other emergency relief. Some of the survivors (approximately 42 in addition to the 27 survivors IOM spoke to) had already left the beach before being assisted. Twenty-two migrants are reportedly still missing and unaccounted for. The approximate average age of the passengers on the boat was 16.
“The survivors told our colleagues on the beach that the smuggler pushed them to the sea, when he saw some ‘authority types’ near the coast,” explained Laurent de Boeck, the IOM Yemen Chief of Mission. “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. This is shocking and inhumane. The suffering of migrants on this migration route is enormous. Too many young people pay smugglers with the false hope of a better future,” continued de Boeck.
Since January 2017 to date, IOM estimates that around 55,000 migrants left the Horn of Africa to come to Yemen, most with the aim of trying to find better opportunities in the Gulf countries. More than 30,000 of those migrants are under the age of 18 from Somalia and Ethiopia, while a third are estimated to be female.
This journey is especially hazardous during the current windy season in the Indian Ocean. Smugglers are active in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, offering fake promises to vulnerable migrants. IOM and its partners operate across the region to support these migrants and provide lifesaving assistance to those who find themselves abused or stranded along the route.
For more information, please contact:
Lina Koussa at IOM Aden, Tel: +967 73 770 0120, Email: lkoussatdy@iom.int
Olivia Headon at IOM HQ in Geneva, Tel: +41794035365, Email: oheadon@iom.int
At Least 50 Migrants Drown as Smuggler Throws Them Into Sea
United Nations migration agency workers helped Somali and Ethiopian migrants forced into the sea by a smuggler. International Organization for Migration
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The migrants — average age 16 — were fleeing two desperate places, Ethiopia and Somalia. They were headed to the shores of another, Yemen.
But early Wednesday morning, as they were about to reach land, they were thrown into the Arabian Sea by a boatman they had paid to take them across the water, according to the United Nations migration agency.
At least 50 of them drowned.
Their attempted flight to a country consumed by war was a measure of the desperation of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa, where successive droughts have led to acute shortages of food and water and to outbreaks of disease. Thousands have fled, usually paying smugglers to take them to Persian Gulf countries in search of work.
The route, across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, takes them through Yemen, one of the world’s most dangerous war zones, where airstrikes and mortar shelling have become routine, and a cholera outbreak has affected more than 400,000 people.
And Yemen, too, is on the brink of famine. Nearly seven million residents rely entirely on food aid, the World Food Program says.
On Wednesday, the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, said in a statement that it had found 27 survivors from among the people thrown into the sea. They described how their smuggler had tossed them overboard as their boat approached Shabwa, on the Yemeni coast.
“The survivors told our colleagues on the beach that the smuggler pushed them to the sea when he saw some ‘authority types’ near the coast,” Laurent de Boeck, the agency’s 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. This is shocking and inhumane.”
The migration agency reported finding 29 bodies hastily buried on the beach. Another 22 people were still missing.
The agency estimates that this year alone, 55,000 people have left the Horn of Africa and come through Yemen seeking work in the wealthy countries of the Gulf. More than half were children.
In addition to Yemen, Somalia is one of the four countries around the world at risk of famine, according to the United Nations, a determination made on the basis of specific criteria, including the number of hunger-related deaths. Some 6.7 million people require humanitarian assistance, and more than 760,000 people are displaced within the country, according to the United Nations.
In addition to Yemen, Somalia is one of the four countries around the world at risk of famine, according to the United Nations, a determination made on the basis of specific criteria, including the number of hunger-related deaths. Some 6.7 million people require humanitarian assistance, and more than 760,000 people are displaced within the country, according to the United Nations.
Source – The New York Times