Traffickers used beatings and the threat of shooting to force more than 100 refugees, including children who could not swim, to jump into heavy seas off the coast of Yemen last week, survivors have said. At least 50 people were killed. The incident is the latest in a series in which hundreds, possibly thousands of refugees have died.

Survivors contacted in Yemen told the Guardian that crewmembers armed with AK47s told around 120 men, women and children that they would not be able to land them on beaches in Yemen and forced them to jump into the water while still at least 1km offshore at dawn on Tuesday. The boat had left Bosaso, a port in Somaliland on the Gulf of Aden, around 16 hours earlier, the survivors said. Fifty-one refugees, mostly Somalis trying to reach Europe, have been confirmed dead, and the toll is expected to rise.

“The smugglers told us it was very risky to approach the shore as Yemeni authorities had arrested smugglers there. So they told us to jump. Some people shouted and begged the smugglers to take us closer, but they refused and started beating people with sticks. They had AK47s, so everyone was afraid to argue, and people started jumping into the sea,” Abdirahim Ilmi Aano, 25, a labourer in Bosasso, told the Guardian.(theguardian)…[+]