Why did more than 120 refugees jump into the sea in Yemen?

It is reported that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) issued a statement on August 9th, saying that on the morning of the 9th, a "snakehead" forced more than 120 refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia to jump into the sea when approaching the coast of Chabwa province in the Arabian Sea. At least 29 people are known to have died and 22 others are missing.

According to the report, shortly after the incident, the staff of the International Organization for Migration found the remains of 29 refugees on a beach in Chabwa province during routine patrols. In a statement, the organization pointed out that the survivors quickly buried the dead, and said that the medical staff of the organization provided help and emergency care to 27 survivors on the beach. However, some survivors left the beach before getting help. At the same time, 22 refugees are still missing.

The average age of the passengers on the involved vessel is 16 years old. Laurent Despocq, head of the International Organization for Migration in Yemen, said that survivors said that "snakeheads" thought they saw people with government near the coast, so they pushed them into the sea. The "snakehead" himself has returned to Somalia to continue this "business".

Sources from the International Organization for Migration in Aden, Yemen, said that many of the dead and missing refugees were women and children.

According to the report, according to the data of the International Organization for Migration, although Yemen is in a state of war, since June 1965, 438+2007, nearly 55,000 immigrants have left the Horn of Africa for Yemen, of which more than 30,000 are minors from Somalia and Ethiopia. In order to escape poverty and riots, they usually choose to go to Yemen and then enter the Gulf countries from Yemen.