This hand out picture released on September 15, 2009 by the Belgian navy shows a seaman rescuing a refugee in the Gulf of Aden on September 14, 2009.

15 Sep 2009
The United Nations refugee agency fears as many as 65 Somali migrants have died off the Yemeni coast in separate incidents onboard three smuggling boats.

The UNHCR said on Tuesday that sixteen deaths had been confirmed, including eleven cases of suffocation and three deaths due to excessive beating by human traffickers.

The fate of 49 people, missing after one of the three boats capsized and another one sank, remains unknown,

The UN refugee agency fears the death toll in the incidents, which occurred in the dangerous Gulf of Aden waters on Sunday and Monday, will rise to 46.

Ninety-eight people swam ashore.

One of the boats experienced engine failure and capsized when the smugglers onboard attempted to jump overboard.

The other vessel, carrying 112 Somalis, imprisoned some passengers in the engine room, where 14 people died of asphyxiation and beating.

The third boat with 46 people onboard sank. The Belgian navy says 38 refugees were rescued.

According to UNHCR estimates, 43,586 refugees on 860 boats have fled politically unstable and famine-ridden Horn of Africa on perilous journeys to Yemen.

The UN refugee agency also expressed alarm at the “increasing number of larger vessels making the journey” that put more lives at risk.

presstv