![[Yemen] Small fishing boats, like this one in Bossaso'o busy commercial port, carry up to 125 people when used to smuggle migrants from the Somali coast across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Smugglers charge $30 to $50 and sometimes throw their passengers out](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20062156.jpg.webp?itok=Lc_P0wle "The fishermen are asking for help to get rid of illegal ships.")
Forty-five Somali migrants drowned when their boat capsized 95 km away from Mukalla Port on the coast of Yemen on 28 February, Yemeni authorities said.
• Read more reports on Somalis in Yemen
The boat was carrying 45 migrants from Somalia, one from Ethiopia and three Somali smugglers, the ministry of interior said in a statement. The three smugglers and Ethiopian migrant somehow managed to reach the shore safely where the smugglers were arrested and questioned by local authorities.
This is the second smuggling boat to approach the Yemeni coast in a week. On 24 February, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said six Africans had drowned and another 11 went missing after smugglers pushed migrants overboard in deep waters off the Yemeni coast.
"We are concerned that this trend might continue through 2009. In 2008, more than 50,000 people crossed the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, straining UNHCR's capacity and resources," UNHCR said.
dvh/ar/ed
• Read more reports on Somalis in Yemen
The boat was carrying 45 migrants from Somalia, one from Ethiopia and three Somali smugglers, the ministry of interior said in a statement. The three smugglers and Ethiopian migrant somehow managed to reach the shore safely where the smugglers were arrested and questioned by local authorities.
This is the second smuggling boat to approach the Yemeni coast in a week. On 24 February, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said six Africans had drowned and another 11 went missing after smugglers pushed migrants overboard in deep waters off the Yemeni coast.
"We are concerned that this trend might continue through 2009. In 2008, more than 50,000 people crossed the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, straining UNHCR's capacity and resources," UNHCR said.
dvh/ar/ed
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