SANAA, Nov 07, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Yemen's coast-guards seized a boat carrying dozens of African migrants after illegally entering its territorial waters, state-run SABA news agency reported Saturday.
"The smuggling boat was carrying 64 African refuge-seekers, including eight Somalis and 56 Ethiopians and Eritreans," the report quoted security sources as saying.
Between January and August this year, about 36,000 African migrants reached Yemen's shores, with an increase of 33 percent over the same period last year.
In 2008, around 50,000 Africans arrived in the country on smugglers' boats. Some 590 migrants drowned while 359 others went missing at sea and presumed dead, the report noted.
