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Somalis drown on
Yemen crossing
Published: 2005/09/04
16:31:11 GMT
At least 58 migrants
have drowned and many more are feared to have died on an illegal boat
crossing from Somalia to Yemen, a Somali official has said.
Survivors said 250 people
on board two boats were ordered at gunpoint to swim several kilometres
to Yemen, the official, Hussein Hadji Ahmed, said.
Only 37 of the migrants
are known to have survived.
Thousands of Somalis and
Ethiopians attempt to cross the Gulf of Aden each year, many hoping to
reach Europe.
Earlier this year, more
than 100 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia, including women and
children, are believed to have drowned while trying to reach Yemen.
The boat had set off from
the town of Bossaso, in the breakaway Somali republic of Puntland.
The UN's refugee agency has said it is appalled by what it calls an
ongoing human tragedy.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/4213844.stm
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