Smuggling and deaths resume in Gulf of Aden

Sep 14, 2007, 10:54 GMT

Geneva - People smuggling had resumed in the Gulf of Aden with tragic consequences, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said Friday.

Up to 56 people had died violently trying to make the crossing from Somalia to Yemen just 10 days after boats began running again at the end of several stormy months.

Since September 3, UNHCR in Yemen had recorded 12 boats arriving carrying 925 Somalis, Ethiopians and others. One smugglers' boat failed to reach shore after encountering problems 100 kilometres west of Bosaso, Somalia. Around 100 Somalis had managed to make it back to shore in Somalia after being adrift for six days.

'Many of them had been beaten, and some were reportedly doused with acid by the smugglers. The bodies of those who did not survive were thrown overboard,' said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond.

Refugees arriving in Yemen had told UNHCR officials that 24 people on their boat had died, three as a result of beatings, 11 who had been crammed into the hold and 10 who drowned in deep water trying to reach land. Most had fled fighting in Somalia and violence in Ogaden in Ethiopia. They had paid between 70 and 150 US dollars for the crossing.

UNHCR has carried out a series of awareness campaigns to warn people of the dangers of attempting the crossing.

'The problem is that it is very difficult to deter people who feel they have nothing left to lose,' said Redmond.