![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ethiopianreview.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/Yemen-coast.jpg?resize=720%2C405\")
\n(Reuters) – Twenty-two Ethiopian migrants are missing after being dumped in the sea off Yemen, the U.N. International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.
\nIOM spokesman Joel Millman said the missing people were on one of four boats that brought 602 Ethiopian men and women to the coast of Yemen\u2019s Shabwa governorate in the past 24 hours.
\n\u201cWe understand that passengers on the boat had been dropped into deep water and forced to swim to shore. No bodies have been recovered but 22 remain unaccounted for,\u201d Millman told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva. He gave no further details of the incident.
\n\u201cDespite the difficult security problems in Yemen, it\u2019s still a migrant transit point and we\u2019re still hearing about these reports pretty frequently,\u201d he said.
\nLast year 87,000 migrants went to Yemen, mainly ferried from Djibouti.
\nMost are thought to be heading for richer parts of the Arabian Gulf rather than stopping in Yemen, which has been devastated by a civil war and an economic collapse that has pushed more than 8 million people to the brink of famine.
\nWithin Yemen, more than 85,000 people have been displaced since the start of December, mainly from Hodeidah and Taizz governorates, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.
\n\u201cCurrent military escalations on the west coast are leading to hundreds of people having to flee their homes on a daily basis,\u201d UNHCR spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly said.
\nMost of displaced people were being hosted by relatives or friends, trapped inside homes or in caves as ground clashes, aerial bombardment and sniper fire rage around them, she said.
\n\u201cIn addition to new displacement from the western coast, UNHCR is also observing a spike in new displacement from other frontline areas, including Yemen\u2019s border governorates of Al Jawf and Hajjah, and also in Shabwa in the east,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"