About 180 people fleeing Somalia are believed to have drowned when their ship sank in high seas off the coast of Yemen.

The disaster was reported by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Judith Kumin of the UNHCR said two survivors were picked up by a passing ship. There has been a large rise in the number of Somalis leaving for Yemen following heavy flooding which destroyed crops.

The sinking is believed to have happened sometime on Thursday.

According to the two survivors, the six-man crew was picked up by another boat.

Drownings common

The UNHCR said people pay boat owners around $40 per head to take them, sometimes in unseaworthy vessels, on the 18-hour crossing.

Drownings are common because the smugglers tend to drop people off in the water off the coast to avoid the Yemeni coast guard.

"Women and children very often do not make it to the shore," Mrs Kumin said.

In a separate incident, the crew of a ship carrying Somali refugees is reported to have opened fire on them, forcing the refugees to jump into the water off the coast of Yemen.

Six people are said to have died and a number were wounded.

UNHCR figures indicate that in the first three months of this year, 4,763 boat people have arrived in Yemen, four times as many as the same time last year.

UNHCR refugee camps in Yemen now hold nearly 54,000 refugees of whom around 44,000 are Somalis.
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