Geneva, Oct. 2, (dpa/GNA) – At least 48 refugees died and more than 100 are missing off the Djibouti coast after human traffickers forced them to swim ashore, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in Geneva on Wednesday.
A total of 320 people had been aboard two boats, the UN organization said. Of these, 99 had managed to reach the coast by swimming and a further 55 had been rescued from the sea.
Forty-eight people had died, including a mother with her four-month-old baby, the IOM reported. The rescue operation was continuing through Wednesday, it said.
According to information from the survivors, the migrants had been aiming to return to Djibouti from Yemen, the IOM said.
Most of the people travelling this route are from Somalia and Eritrea. They seek to find work after reaching Saudi Arabia or the Gulf States via Yemen, or are returning home.
The IOM reported that more migrants had died on the route between the Horn of Africa and Yemen this year than ever before. In June alone, 196 had drowned, it said.
GNA