At least 30 Somalis, Ethiopians drown off Yemen-UN

GENEVA, Feb 13 (Reuters) At least 30 Somali and Ethiopian migrants drowned when a smuggler's boat capsized off the coast of Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said today, adding it was checking reports the death toll was as high as 78.

Yemeni armed forces told the UN High Commissioner for Refugees they had rescued 40 people from the vessel, which migrants on other boats said had carried some 120 people.

''Once again the Gulf of Aden has claimed the lives of at least 30 Somalis and Ethiopians when the boat smuggling them from Somalia to Yemen capsized on approach to the Yemeni coast yesterday,'' UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a briefing.

''We know it is at least 30 and possibly as high as 78.'' He said the agency was still checking on the higher death toll, which came from a construction company helping to bury the dead migrants along the coastline.

It was the second mass drowning of African migrants this month in the Gulf of Aden.

Fifteen Ethiopian and Somali migrants died after traffickers forced hundreds of passengers to disembark from two boats far from the Yemeni shore in early February.

Smugglers, usually Somali, often drop the migrants in deep waters as the Yemeni coast guard has increased patrols near shore, according to the UNHCR.

Some 27,000 people made the perilous journey from Somalia last year, fleeing fighting in the volatile Horn of Africa nation between the Ethiopian army and an Islamist movement.

Islamist forces ran most of south Somalia for six months until they were ousted in an offensive by the government and Ethiopia over the New Year.

REUTERS DKA VV1755