Yemeni fishermen find dead migrants

SANA'A // Yemeni fishermen have retrieved the bodies of two of the dozens of African migrants feared drowned off southern Yemen this week, an official from the UN's refugee agency said yesterday.

Nabeel Othman - the deputy representative of the Yemen office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - said the bodies of a Somali and an Ethiopian were found on Monday off the province of Taiz in Bab al Mandab strait, which links the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Mr Othman said five migrants - three Ethiopians and two Somalis - managed to reach Yemeni land after a fishing boat carrying 46 people capsized three hours after it departed Somalia on Sunday.

He said the boat overturned after engine problems stopped its progress and passengers started to panic, rendering the boat unstable.

"Two smugglers escaped while five who could swim managed to reach the coast and the rest drowned," Mr Othman said in a telephone interview. He said the Yemeni coastguard was continuing to search for survivors.

A second boat carrying 35 to 40 Ethiopians was also believed to have sunk on Sunday off the coast of the southern province of Lahj.

The website of Yemen's interior ministry quoted the coastguard in Aden as saying both accidents were caused by high winds and big waves.

Mr Othman said the UNHCR did not have any information on the second boat. He said the UNHCR is coordinating with local authorities to help the Ethiopian survivors.

Mr Othman said 90 per cent of the Ethiopians who flee to Yemen are economic migrants.

"Those who seek asylum are transferred in refugee camps while we return the rest," he said.

Yemeni officials say there are about one million Somali refugees in the country while Mr Othman said there are 170,000 Somali refugees registered with his organisation and 20,000 to 30,000 people from other nations. The refugees also include Iraqis, Ethiopians and Palestinians.

The Yemeni government, with support from the UNHCR, has been conducting a nationwide registration for the refugees since 2009.

Mr Othman said the process should finish this year. He expected that the total figure will be about half a million refugees.

malqadhi@thenational.ae