UN: 100 migrants feared drowned off Yemen

[October 10, 2008]  GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N. refugee agency says 100 migrants are feared drowned after being forced overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Ron Redmond says the smuggling boat left Somalia on Monday with 150 people on board. The smugglers forced the migrants overboard off the Yemeni coast and 47 survivors managed to swim 3 miles to shore and alert authorities. Redmond told reporters in Geneva on Friday that about 32,000 people have arrived in Yemen on boats since the start of the year. Many of them are fleeing violence and hardship in Somalia and other countries in the Horn of Africa. UNHCR estimates at least 230 people have died and 365 remain missing, including 100 from the latest incident. [Associated Press] Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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