UN authorities search for 100 missing in Gulf of Aden

Geneva: UN authorities are searching for at least 100 people reported missing in the Gulf of Aden after being forced overboard by smugglers off the coast of Yemen, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Ron Redmond said the 100 were on their way to Yemen from Somalia.

Only 47 out of the 150 passengers who departed from the Somali port of Marera survived, Redmond said.

"Survivors said they counted a total of 47 people reaching shore, and later saw Yemeni authorities burying five bodies," Redmond said.