The United Nations refugee agency is reporting a sharp increase in the number of Africans being smuggled from Somalia to Yemen across the Gulf of Aden.
The agency said Friday that 50 boats carrying more than 4,700 people have arrived on Yemen's shores since September 1.
With three days left in the month, that number is already an increase of more than 60 percent over September 2006, when Yemen received just under 3,000 African migrants.
It also marks a sharp increase from July and August, when human smuggling across the Gulf of Aden typically drops because of rough seas.
The refugee agency says at least 89 people have died this month trying to cross the Gulf. Migrants who arrived safely in Yemen say other passengers were thrown overboard at sea, drowned trying to reach shore from deep water, or died of asphyxiation in the hold of the boats.
Smugglers in the Gulf are known for their brutal treatment of passengers, who usually pay about $50 to make the perilous voyage.
Most of the migrants are Somalis and Ethiopians, trying to escape poverty, war or oppression in their home countries.
The refugee agency says nearly 14,000 people in all have arrived in Yemen this year after sailing across the Gulf. It says 356 would-be migrants have died, while another 272 are missing and presumed dead. - VOA News
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