5 dead, 50 missing as smugglers throw 180 Yemen-bound migrants into sea

At least five migrants drowned and 50 went missing on Thursday when smugglers forced 180 Africans off a boat bound for Yemen, a day after a similar drama that left 29 dead, the International Organization for Migration said.

Twenty-five people were being treated for injuries on a Yemeni beach, said the IOM, which could not immediately confirm the nationalities of the casualties.

Smugglers on Wednesday forced more than 120 Somali and Ethiopian migrants into rough seas off Yemen to avoid arrest by local authorities, leaving at least 29 dead and 22 missing, the organisation said.