Between 80 and 100 people died in a shipwreck in the Gulf of Aden earlier this month, witnesses and survivors told the United Nations refugee agency, while 23 were rescued, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The stricken boat had sailed from the Somali port of Bossasso and was probably on its way to the Republic of Yemen or Saudi Arabia when its engine exploded on January 4, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Peter Kessler.
"According to the survivors of the shipwreck who were rescued by two other boats, an explosion in the boat's engine was followed by a fire that forced the passengers, between 100 and 120 people, to jump into the sea," Kessler said. Twenty-three were rescued about two hours after the explosion.
The survivors are sheltering in a UNHCR camp near Aden, Yemen, Kessler added. (Albawaba.com)
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