At least 52 Somalis have died when the boat smuggling them across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen broke down and they were left adrift with no food or water for 18 days, United Nations has said

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) staff in Yemen, 71 people survived the incident. They were rescued after the boat drifted into Yemeni coastal waters on September 21.

The boat had left Marera on the Somali coast on September 3 with at least 124 passengers on board.

Survivors told UNHCR that after the engine failed several hours into the journey, crew members told them that they would travel to the Somali city of Bossaso in a smaller boat to re-charge the battery and return, but they never returned.

Of the 52 dead, 38 men and 10 women died while the boat drifted in the Gulf of Aden. Four, of the ten survivors who were hospitalised, died later while undergoing treatment.

The remaining survivors, aged 2 to 40 years, were taken to UNHCR's Mayfa'a Reception Centre.

They told the agency that they left Somalia because of continuing insecurity in the war-torn nation, drought and unemployment.

Each passenger paid the smugglers between USD 70 and USD 100 for the voyage.

According to UNHCR, at least 31,192 people have arrived in Yemen so far this year after making the perilous voyage aboard smugglers' boats. More than 228 people have died and at least 262 remain missing.