Six people drowned and 11 others are presumed dead after smugglers forced the passengers overboard in deep water off Yemen last week, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday.

Survivors said the smuggling boat had departed on Thursday from Suweto in Somalia's Bossasso region, Ron Redmond of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told reporters. It was carrying 40 Somalis and 12 Ethiopians across the Gulf of Aden and was one of seven smuggling boats that reached the coast of Yemen on Friday.