Add Your Photos and Video to This Story

Smugglers Throw Migrants to Sharks

by jordan | March 26, 2007 at 03:36 pm | 318 views | add comment

The headline above is not just sensationalism, but the results of a human smuggling operation gone awry. It seems as if the smugglers forced their "cargo" overboard in order to save themselves as their ship hit rough waters.

At least 29 migrants have died after smugglers forced them at knife-point to jump into the sea off the coast of Yemen, the UN refugee agency has said.

The UNHCR said another 71 people - from Somalia and Ethiopia - were missing after Thursday's incident.

Some of the 293 survivors said the smugglers ordered some 450 migrants to jump when their boats hit rough seas near the coast town of Ras al-Kalb.

They said those who refused to jump were stabbed and beaten with clubs.

"We are horrified by this latest tragedy," said UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner Erika Feller after returning from a visit to Yemen.

"These brutal smugglers care nothing about the fate of the people they prey upon, both refugees and... migrants who are desperate to escape persecution, violence and poverty in the Horn of Africa," Ms Feller said.

Some of the 293 survivors said four smugglers' boats approached the Yemeni coastline on Thursday morning in rough seas and strong currents.

They said the passengers were then ordered to jump into the sea.

Some of the migrants were attacked by sharks, and several recovered bodies showed signs of severe mutilation, the survivors said.