Scores of Somali migrants feared dead

About 100 migrants are feared dead after being forced out of a boat by smugglers off the coast of Yemen.

Survivors reported that a smuggling boat carrying about 150 passengers had left the port of Marera near Bossaso in Somalia and spent three days crossing the Gulf of Aden.

Most passengers were forced overboard over three miles from the Yemeni shore, and many are feared to have drowned, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

"Survivors said they counted a total of 47 people reaching the beach and later saw Yemeni authorities burying five bodies," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said.

Most of the migrants were believed to be Somalis, although some boats have also transported Ethiopian or Eritrean migrants from Somalia, he said.

About 32,000 people have arrived from war-torn Somalia in Yemen so far this year after making the perilous voyage aboard smugglers' boats, according to the agency.

At least 230 people have died and an estimated 365 are still missing, including those from the latest incident, it said.

Piracy is also rife off Somalia, which has been mired in anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Siad Barre in 1991. Gunmen have boarded more than 30 vessels this year and received sizeable ransoms.

Earlier, a ship laden with cement was hijacked in the waters between Somalia and Yemen, a Somali government official said.

And in another case, an Iranian bulk carrier and its 29 crew were released by pirates, seven weeks after it was hijacked.

The Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines said the Dianat was released after negotiations and did not give any further details.

On Thursday, Nato decided to join anti-piracy operations along Somalia's 2,060 mile coastline.

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