Yemen Allows 600 Somalis Ashore After Eight-Day Wait Aboard Boat
Six hundred exhausted, hungry Somali refugees were allowed ashore Saturday from a wooden boat where they had spent eight days waiting offshore.
The arrivals told tales of fear and suffering aboard the cramped vessel, where food and water had run out and temperatures soared above 120 degrees.
“We came here because they are Arabs and Muslims and we have nowhere else to go,” said Amal Abdul, a refugee in her 50s who spoke through cracked, thirst-parched lips. Her small son clung to her skirts, crying in hunger.
The refugees were taken to a small beach compound where 3,300 other Somalis have been held since last week when their larger vessel, the cargo ship Gob Wein, ran aground.
Yemen finally allowed the refugees from the small wooden dhow Manseir to land after appeals from relief officials who warned of desperate conditions aboard. The United Nations is helping to care for the refugees.
The Somalis, who crossed the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, are fleeing civil war and drought in their country. The International Committee of the Red Cross has described Somalia as the world’s greatest humanitarian disaster.
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