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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Wedding card helps police crack robbery case; victim's brother among 4 held
Palghar (PTI): A marriage invitation card has helped police in solving a case of robbery in Maharashtra's Palghar district, with the victim's brother found to be involved in the crime, an official said on Thursday.
The incident took place on March 28 near Vavar village in Jawhar, he said.
The victim, Boru Khandu Binnar (30), resident of Khodala in Mokhada taluka here, was travelling in a pickup van when three unidentified persons flagged him down under the pretext that their motorbike had broken down, District Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil said.
Believing their plea for help, the man asked his van driver to halt to assist them.
The robbers then threw chilli powder into the eyes of the man and the van driver and took away Rs 6,85,500 in cash kept behind the driver's seat. They also threatened the man with dire consequences before fleeing, the official said.
The Jawhar police subsequently registered a case against the then unidentified culprits under sections 309(4) (robbery) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
During the investigation at the crime scene, the police found traces of chilli powder, and an usual piece of evidence - a marriage invitation card in which the chilli powder was wrapped, the official said.
The police tracked down a person whose name was mentioned on the invitation, and found him to be involved in the robbery. Later, three other culprits were also nabbed, he said, adding the four were taken into custody over the last couple of days.
According to the official, out of the four persons arrested, Dattu Khandu Binnar (34), the victim's brother, allegedly planned the robbery.
The other three arrested persons have been identified as Kiran Ananta Lamte (23), resident of Mokhada, whose name was on the marriage invitation card, Parmeshwar Kamlakar Zole (24) and Dada Bajirao Pehre (24), both from Nashik, he said.
The police recovered the entire stolen cash from the arrested persons, the official said.
