At least 49 die and 140 are missing in sinking of migrant boat off Yemen's coast, UN agency says
Cairo, Jun 11: A boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, killing at least 49 people and leaving another 140 missing, the UN group said on Tuesday.
The boat was carrying about 260 Somalis and Ethiopians from the northern coast of Somalia on the 320-kilometer journey across the Gulf of Aden when it sank Monday off of Yemen's southern coast, the International Organization for Migration said in a statement.
Seventy-one people have been rescued and the search is ongoing, the group said, noting that 31 women and six children are among the dead.
Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries for work. Despite a nearly decade-long civil war in Yemen, the number of arriving migrants has tripled in recent years, from about 27,000 in 2021 to more than 90,000 last year, the IOM said last month. About 380,000 migrants are currently in Yemen, according to the agency.
To reach Yemen, migrants are taken by smugglers on often dangerous, overcrowded boats across the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.
In April, at least 62 people died in two shipwrecks off the coast of Djibouti as they tried to reach Yemen. The IOM said at least 1,860 people have died or disappeared along the route, including 480 who drowned.
Monday's sinking “is another reminder of the urgent need to work together to address urgent migration challenges and ensure the safety and security of migrants along migration routes,” said IOM spokesperson Mohammedali Abunajela.
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Indian banks recovered over Rs 14k cr, twice he owed, claims Vijay Mallya
New Delhi, Apr 07 (PTI): Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya has claimed that Indian banks have got access to his properties worth Rs 14,131.6 crore, more than twice the amount that he owed to public sector banks.
Mallya cited purported reference to the details of restoration done by the Enforcement Directorate against wilful defaulters in the Finance Ministry's annual report 2024-25 to say that banks have already recovered Rs 14,131.8 crore against Rs 6,203 crore awarded by the Debt Recovery Tribunal.
"Finally, against aT judgment debt of Rs 6,203 crore, admitted recovery of Rs 14,131.8 crore, which will be evidence in my UK bankruptcy annulment application. Wonder what banks will say in an English Court," Mallya said in a post on X.
Sharing details of fugitive economic offenders, including Mallya and 10 others, the report said a total of 44 extradition requests have been sent to various countries in respect of 36 individuals.
As per the annual report of the ministry, a complete amount of attached properties worth Rs 14,131.6 crore has been successfully restored to the Public Sector Banks in the case of Vijay Mallaya.
The efforts of the ED have resulted in successful representation before Competent Court abroad in the extradition of various fugitive economic offenders and other accused, the report said.
"In this regard, it is pertinent to mention that the UK Court has approved extradition of few high profile accused persons to India following effective representation of the Directorate in coordination with other LEAs (law enforcement agencies) and Indian mission abroad," it said.
TheT bench of Bengaluru in 2017 had ordered the SBI-led consortium of banks to start the process of recovering Rs 6,203 crore, at an annual interest rate of 11.5 per cent, from embattled Mallya and his companies in the Kingfisher Airlines case.
Mallya, who fled to the UK in March 2016, is wanted in India over a default of Rs 9,000 crore that was loaned to esrtwhile Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) by several banks.
India has been seeking Mallya's extradition from the UK. He had in the past offered to repay 100 per cent of "public money" but accused the banks and government of refusing his offer.
In February, a London Court heard a set of complicated arguments involving a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India seeking repayment of an estimated judgment debt of around GBP 1.05 billion owed by the 69-year-old businessman's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
