MIGRANTS ‘DELIBERATELY DROWNED’ OFF YEMEN
The U.N. agency for migration says up to 50 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were “deliberately drowned” when a smuggler forced them into the sea off Yemen’s coast.
The International Organization for Migration statement called the incident “shocking and inhumane.”
The agency says staffers found the shallow graves of 29 of the migrants on a beach in Shabwa during a routine patrol.
The statement says the smuggler forced more than 120 migrants into the sea Wednesday morning as they approached Yemen’s coast.
The narrow waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen have been a popular migration route despite ongoing conflict in the country.
The statement says staffers provided aid for 27 surviving migrants who remained on the beach, while other migrants left. The agency says 22 migrants are missing.