Over 50 migrants ‘deliberately’ drowned off Yemen: The International Organization for Migration

‘The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says more than 50 migrants, mostly teenagers, have been “deliberately” drowned by a human smuggler in rough seas off Yemen’s coast.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the IOM said the incident took place after the smuggler forced more than 120 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia into the sea for fear of being arrested when they saw some “authority types” near the coast in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa.
The IOM said it found the shallow graves of 29 migrants on the beach after they were buried by survivors, and that at least 22 other migrants remained missing.
“The smugglers deliberately pushed the migrants into the waters since they feared that they would be arrested by the authorities once they reach the shore,” an IOM emergency officer said.
There were “many women and children among those who died and those who are still missing,” he noted, adding that the passengers’ average age was around 16.’
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