MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Rescuers searched Thursday for dozens of migrants from Africa still missing after smugglers apparently forced them out of two boats in the Red Sea off the coast of Djibouti earlier this week, the Djiboutian coast guard said.
At least 48 people were earlier reported to have drowned. The boats had departed from Yemen, across the Red Sea on the Arabian Peninsula, carrying 310 people, the International Organization for Migration said.
It was not known why the migrants were forced off the boats while still at sea.
Initially, the IOM said the two boats with migrants had capsized but later made no mention of that, saying instead that the smugglers forced the people off the boats and told them to swim.
Djibouti’s coast guard said the tragedy struck some 150 meters (about 500 feet) off a beach in the East African nation’s northwestern region of Khor Angar. It said 115 survivors had been rescued.
Moktar Abdi, a member of the Djiboutian coast guard, told The Associated Press over the phone on Thursday that the search operation was now focusing on deep-sea areas and nearby beaches. He said the coast guard would later share an update on the number of recovered bodies.
On Wednesday, the IOM said 111 people were still missing while the Djiboutian coast guard put the number at 61.
“One woman drowned, but her 4-month-old infant survived along with 98 others from the first boat,” said the U.N. agency, which was assisting search and rescue efforts.
Thousands of migrants from African, Middle Eastern and South Asian countries seeking a better life in Europe attempt irregular migration every year. Smugglers pack vessels full of desperate people willing to risk their lives to reach continental Europe.
Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa and much of the country’s nort h, forcing the internationally recognized government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab states entered the conflict the following year to back the government forces.
Over the past years, the war has become mostly stalemated along established front lines while efforts to find a negotiated solution have stalled.
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