20 feared drowned off Yemen after boat disappears

Thirty-five people, including four women, were rescued from the water as of Wednesday night after a major operation was launched in the early hours.

Socotra has enormous tourism potential which has never been realised because of the various conflicts on the mainland. Mohamed Al Sayaghi/Reuters

ADEN // Twenty-two people were missing off the Yemeni island of Socotra on Wednesday after a cargo vessel carrying islanders home from the mainland sank in the Indian Ocean.

Forty-two people, including four women, had been rescued from the water as of Wednesday night, after a major search operation was launched in the early hours, said Yemen’s official Saba news agency.

Salem Dahaq, the head of Hadibo, the capital of Socotra province, appealed to the Saudi-led Arab coalition to send helicopters to help with the search. The coalition, which is fighting to restore the Yemeni government to full power, maintains a naval presence in the area.

“So far we have been searching only with ships. We hope all passengers can be rescued with no deaths and so we appeal to the coalition to send helicopters,” said Mr Dahaq.

“There is significant hope that passengers have survived,” said Yemeni fisheries minister Fahd Kavleen. “But the coming hours are dangerous and we are in dire need of the helicopters to participate in the rescue.”

The ship left the port of Mukalla five days ago with 64 people aboard, including women and children, and 25 lifeboats but went missing five days ago, said Mr Kavleen. On Tuesday came reports that it was sinking about 50 kilometres west of Qalansia Island.

Saba said the first two survivors were rescued by a passing Austrian vessel and an Australian ship.

Although long ruled from Yemen, Socotra lies closer to the coast of Africa than to the Arabian Peninsula.

The waters around the island form the exit of a busy shipping lane from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean. For years it was prey for pirates from the lawless coast of nearby Somalia and it is now one of the most heavily patrolled sea areas in the world.

The conflict that has ravaged the Yemeni mainland for the past two years has disrupted transport links to the archipelago. Mukalla was controlled by Al Qaeda for a full year until April.

Air links to Socotra from elsewhere in Yemen have been virtually halted as the beleaguered government battles rebels who still control the capital. There are no regular passenger ferries either, forcing islanders to seek berths on the occasional cargo vessel.

Throughout the devastating conflict that has pitted forces loyal to president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi against the Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies, Socotra has remained loyal to the president’s internationally-recognised government and has been spared the fighting.

The island has enormous tourism potential which has never been realised because of the various conflicts on the mainland. Socotra’s isolation from the landmasses of both Africa and Asia has led to the evolution of unique plant life, much of it found nowhere else on earth, Among the best known is the dragon’s blood tree, a bizarre umbrella-shaped species that earned its name from its blood-red sap which was much sought after as a dye in the ancient world.

Persistent unrest in the nearby Horn of Africa has meant that the waters around Socotra have seen a steady flow of Ethiopian and Somali migrants ready to risk the perilous sea crossing in the hope of reaching Yemen’s energy-rich Gulf neighbours.

At least 79 people have perished while attempting to cross the Gulf of Aden this year, the UN refugee agency said.