80 African migrants feared drowned off Yemen
By DPA, IANSMonday, January 3, 2011
SANA’A - Around 80 African migrants, mainly Ethiopians, were feared dead after two boats carrying them capsized off Yemen, the interior ministry said.
A ministry statement said Monday that at least 43 people, most of them Ethiopians, were presumed dead after their boat capsized due to high winds near the Bab al-Mandab strait at the southern end of the Red Sea Sunday.
Only three Somali migrants were able to make it to the shore alive after the tragedy, the ministry said.
Two bodies of Ethiopian migrants washed ashore, and search was still ongoing late Monday for survivors, it said.
The second accident took place off the coast of Bab al-Aara near the southern port city of Aden when a boat carrying between 35 to 40 Ethiopian migrants, including women and children, capsized amid high winds.
No survivors were found at the area of the accident, the statement said, adding that coast guard rescue teams were searching.
