Thirteen Ethiopians Die at the Gulf of Aden

By Gubae Gundarta

ABC News has it that thirteen Ethiopian emigrants died just trying to cross the Gulf of Aden while eight others went missing without trace. The report also said that a total of 85 people of whom 75 were Ethiopians and the remaining 10 from Somalia attempted to cross the Gulf in a jam-packed boat illegally. American navy forces who saw them while the boat was about to go down came to their rescue. Everyone onboard sank when the boat capsized.

Later when the US navy forces continued the rescue efforts they could only save 61 while 13 breathed their last and 8 of them were not found anywhere.

Shortly a Korean ship has found the boat. There were attempts to repair the boat’s motor but it was all a futile exercise. They dragged the wrecked boat all the way to the coast of Somalia. The navy crew said that the cause of it all was under investigation.

The Gulf of Aden which is a passageway for many ships between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean has recently become a black spot where Somali pirates repeatedly disrupt maritime transportation.

UN records show that in recent times only over 74,000 Africans, most of them from Ethiopia and Somalia have followed the route across the Gulf to cross over to Yemen.

NewsDire Staff Writer
Gubae Gundarta