San'a (Sunatimes) At least 18 Somali migrants died and others reportedly missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Yemen.

50 Somali and Ethiopian migrants were on board the boat when it sank, a Somali official told Bar-kulan.

Adan Hussein Haji Ahmed, who is a consul in the embassy of Somalia in Yemen, said the Yemeni government informed them of some Somalis who survived a boat tragedy have entered the country.

The consul said rescue team has been dispatched to the coast, but said little can be done about the immigrants as there were large numbers of refugees formerly in Yemen.

This is the first incident of migrants’ death since the offset of the unrest in Yemen in the attempts to ouster president Ali Abdalla Salah.

The incident comes as a large number of Somali refugees have started returning home fleeing from Yemen unrest.

At least 100 Somali refugees, including women, children and university students, have reached Bosaso, Puntland’s commercial port, by boat since late March.

By Jacfur Kuukaay