100 migrants missing after being forced overboard near Yemen: UN

About 100 migrants believed to be from Somalia might have drowned off the coast of Yemen after smugglers forced them off the boat they were on, the UN refugee agency said Friday.

Ron Redmond, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said a boat carrying 150 people left Somalia on Monday. 

Redmond said the smugglers forced all but 12 of the migrants to abandon ship near Yemen in the Gulf of Aden when they were about five kilometres from shore. They put the 12 in a smaller boat while the others had to try to swim to safety.

Only 47 people were able to swim to shore. The survivors immediately told authorities about the incident.

Redmond said at a news conference in Geneva the UN refugee agency thinks the migrants were mainly from Somalia, but there is a chance they were Ethiopian or Eritrean.

A Yemeni security official said Friday that 30 bodies have turned up on the shore of the Gulf of Aden and authorities buried them immediately, in keeping with Islamic customs of quick burial.

Redmond said from Geneva that about 32,000 migrants have landed in Yemen after travelling by boat since the beginning of the year. Many are believed to be trying to leave violence in Somalia.

According to the UN refugee agency, an estimated 230 people have died while trying to migrate and 365 are missing, including those who drowned this week.