JOHANNESBURG -- Up to 50 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were "deliberately drowned" when a smuggler forced them into the sea off Yemen's coast, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday, calling the drownings "shocking and inhumane." The smuggler forced more than 120 migrants into the sea Wednesday morning as they approached Yemen's coast, the IOM statement said. IOM staffers provided aid for 27 surviving migrants who remained on the beach, while other migrants left. De Boeck called the suffering of migrants on the route enormous, especially during the current windy season on the Indian Ocean. The IOM says about 55,000 migrants have left Horn of Africa nations for Yemen since January, with most from Somalia and Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian News August 09, 2017 20:15 UTC