85 Illegal Immigrants Feared Dead on Boat to Yemen

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, May 17, 2003

85 Illegal Immigrants Feared Dead on Boat to Yemen

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More than 85 illegal immigrants are feared dead on their way to Yemen five days ago in a boat disaster, according to the acting counselor for the Somali embassy in Yemen, Hussein Hajji Ahmed Mohamud on Friday.

According to eyewitnesses in the northeastern port town of Bossaso, a boat with 85 people onboard, of which 40 are Somalis and 45 Ethiopians, has sailed from the Mareg coastal village near the Bossaso town in the semiautonomous region of Puntland on Monday early this week.

The boat carrying these illegal immigrants aimed at traveling to Yemen where both the Somalis and Ethiopians would seek a better life in their journey to Saudi Arabia through Yemen.

However, a disaster struck the boat and crushed it to pieces, said Hussein Hajji Ahmed, who spoke to the eyewitnesses.

It is not yet known how this disaster took place or who was behind it, but some clues have been found after yet another boat carrying 65 people from Bossaso area also sailed to Yemen for the same reason after just 24 hours.

The travelers onboard this second boat who have managed to reach Yemen have spoken to the Yemen authorities as well as the Somali officials in the embassy.

According to Hussein Hajji Mohamud, those people onboard this second boat have hardly reached Bi'r Ali beach of Shadwa region with four dead people, one Somali and three Ethiopians, and the survivors have spoken about their experience.

"Just 24 hours after we sailed from Mareg," they said, "we have come across the dead bodies of 17 people including two women," they told the Yemeni and the Somali officials.

"We've also recognized some of the dead which included the two mechanics of the boat which left Mareg near Bossaso the day before we sailed," they said.

Also, Yemeni fishermen told the Yemen authorities that they've seen lots of dead people in the sea whom they said looked like Somalis.

It seems that now these boat disasters are increasing, and the people are attributing this to the closure of the sea for the high-tide season and every illegal immigrant tries to rush before the boat travel totally comes to a halt for three months.

Late last month, 27 people from Somalia and Ethiopia have been confirmed dead in a similar boat tragedy between Somalia and Yemen.

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