At least 30 African migrants drowned when their boat capsized off war-torn Yemen this week with reports of gunfire being used against those on board, the United Nations said Friday. Somali refugees wait on Yemen’s Red Sea coast for transport to Aden. Photo: UNHCR/R. Nuri At least 152 Somalis and Ethiopians were aboard the overcrowded vessel which left Aden in southern Yemen on Tuesday, the UN refugee and migration agencies said in a joint statement.”The vessel is believed to have been operated by unscrupulous smugglers who were attempting to take refugees and migrants to Djibouti, while also trying to extort more money from these refugees and migrants,” according to the statement.The boat turned back and “capsized amid reports of gunfire being used against the passengers”, it said, adding that it was working with the Yemeni coast guard to try to establish what happened.”At least 30 people have died in this tragic incident” which occurred near the coast.More than 9,200 people have been killed in Yemen since a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in 2015 against Huthi rebels with the aim of restoring the country’s internationally recognised government to power.But the impoverished country continues to draw migrants from the Horn of Africa, many of them seeking work in prosperous Gulf countries further north.The UN Refugee Agency said it was “outraged” by the latest deaths.”Prolonged conflict and insecurity in Yemen continues to expose vulnerable refugees and migrants to heightened risks of human rights violations including arbitrary arrest, detention, trafficking and deportation,” it said… [Read full story]
More than 200 people were feared dead after a heavily overloaded boat packed mostly with Afghan and Iranian asylum-seekers sank off Indonesia en route to Australia, rescuers said Sunday. Australia's government called the sinking "a terrible tragedy", but came under pressure from campaign groups which said its tough approach to refugees was partly responsible for such disasters. The fibreglass boat had a capacity of 100 but was overloaded with about 250 people when it sank on Saturday 40 nautical miles off eastern Java, in heavy rain and high waves, Indonesian officials said. Thirty-three survivors were plucked from the shark-infested waters,…... [read more]
ATHENS, Jan 28 – Twenty-four migrants drowned when their boat sank off a Greek island close to Turkey, the Greek coastguard said, as people continue to risk the crossing to Europe despite harsh winter conditions. "We have 10 rescued and 11 missing," a coastguard official said on Thursday. "The search and rescue effort is continuing." The sinking occurred late on Wednesday north of the island of Samos in the eastern Aegean Sea, close to the Turkish coast. The coastguard said a man who managed to swim ashore told Greek authorities the boat had been carrying 40 to 45 people. Coastguard…... [read more]
At least 6 drowned, 7 missing after boat sinks on Da River (25-10-2006) PHU THO — At least six people drowned when a boat sank yesterday in Thanh Thuy District, in the northern province of Phu Tho. The boat sank at 1.30pm on a section of the Da River at Tu Vu Commune. It was travelling from Viet Tri City, carrying more than 20 passengers on board. After the accident, the district authorities mobilised police and army forces to carry out a rescue. By 5pm, the rescue team had found the bodies of six people and rescued seven survivors. Tran…... [read more]
The North Korean women had gathered in the Chinese province of Shandong on Jan. 4 and begun their journey to South Korea via Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, the activist said. "The ill-fated boat had a capacity for about 10 people. The sinking may have been caused by being overcrowded," said the activist, asking to remain anonymous. "Two defectors drowned, but 10 others swam back to Laos before arriving in Thailand on another boat. They are currently under the custody of Thai police," the activist said. The body of a defector in her 20s was found, but the other defector has…... [read more]
The Italian navy rescued more than 1,000 migrants in the 24 hours to Friday from boats trying to reach Europe, authorities said, as an immigration crisis that killed hundreds in the last year showed no signs of easing. The 823 men, women and children aboard the four vessels were from countries including Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and Tunisia. The navy rescued 233 migrants from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia, Mali and Pakistan in a separate operation and took them to a port near Syracuse on Sicily's eastern coast. Following an October shipwreck in which 366 Eritrean migrants drowned off the Italian island…... [read more]
