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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Jul 05 2011 - 22:46:20 EDT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/201175215452751288.html
Red Sea boat sinking leaves '197 people dead'
A boat carrying African migrants to Saudi Arabia has capsized off Sudan's
coast, killing 197 people, Sudan media says.
Last Modified: 05 Jul 2011 23:17
A ship packed with refugees bound for Saudi Arabia has caught fire and
capsized off the northeastern coast of Sudan, killing 197 people, the
Sudanese Media Centre, a state-linked news agency, has said.
The agency said on Tuesday that three of the migrants had been rescued.
The three are being treated in a hospital near Atiaba, where the incident
took place, Mohamed Vall, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from
Khartoum, said.
The ship had launched from the Red Sea State, one of Sudan's 26 states, and
sailed for four hours in Sudanese territorial waters before the blaze broke
out, according to the news agency.
"All we know is this boat has caught fire and capsized off the shores of the
Red Sea area in Sudan, particularly at a place called Atiaba about 200km
from the port of Sudan," Vall said
An unconfirmed source spoke to Al Jazeera and said the boat drowned last
Saturday, although the Sudanese media were only reported it now.
"We don't have confirmed information about when this happened," Vall said.
The owners of the boat, all Yemenis, have been arrested, the Sudanese Media
Centre said.
*'Homemade boat'*
"It is a homemade boat and that is probably one of the problems that caused
this incident," Vall said.
The boat had several nationalities on board, including Somalians, Eritreans,
Ethiopians and Sudanese.
A second attempt to smuggle 247 migrants, mostly from Chad, Nigeria, Somalia
and Eritrea, was also uncovered in the same state, the report said, without
elaborating.
Sudan has experienced several other incidents of illegal migrants drowning
off the coast on their way to nearby countries in past years.
Thousands of African migrants, especially Eritreans and Ethiopians, risk the
dangerous route to escape, often trying to go to Saudi Arabia.
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