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GENEVA (AP) - Two boats filled with Somalis and Ethiopians capsized off the coast of Yemen after Yemeni patrol boats chased one of them and fired on two other vessels. At least 17 people drowned and some 140 were missing, the U.N. refugee agency said Thursday.
The incident took place late Wednesday in the Gulf of Aden when Yemeni authorities spotted four boats smuggling 515 people approaching the coastline, the Geneva-based U.N. High Commission for Refugees said.
The two boats that Yemeni security forced fired on had just offloaded in Yemen and only smugglers were on board, UNHCR said. The smugglers returned fire, according to Yemeni officials, and two other boats still filled with refugees waiting offshore tried to escape to sea in the darkness.
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