ICC Note:
50 migrants from the horn of Africa were killed recently when trying to escape to Yemen. The smuggler with whom they were travelling to Yemen, was spooked by authorities as they got nearer to land. Instead of risk being caught smuggling, he decided to force the more than 120 migrants to jump overboard and swim. When they reached shore, more than 29 had died and the survivors buried them. Another 22 were still missing by the time International organization for Migration Staff members were able to speak to the victims. This is a common occurrence as many people try to leave the horn of Africa to find better lives.
08/10/2017 Somalia (CBS) – Up to 50 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were “deliberately drowned” when a smuggler forced them into the sea off Yemen’s coast, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday, calling the drownings “shocking and inhumane.”
International Organization for Migration staffers found the shallow graves of 29 of the migrants on a beach in Shabwa during a routine patrol, the agency’s statement said. The dead were buried by those who survived.
At least 22 migrants remained missing, the IOM said. The passengers’ average age was around 16, according to the agency.
“The suffering of migrants on this migration route is enormous,” says ldeboeck after latest tragedy in Yemen
The narrow waters between the Horn of Africa and Yemen have been a popular migration route despite Yemen’s ongoing conflict. Migrants try to make their way to the oil-rich Gulf countries.
The smuggler forced more than 120 migrants into the sea Wednesday morning as they approached Yemen’s coast, the IOM statement said.
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