GENEVA, April 10 (Reuters) - At least 34 Somalis and Ethiopians drowned after traffickers forced them overboard off the coast of Yemen, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Yemeni sea patrols fired at two of the three boats involved in the incident, which occurred last Friday along the Yemeni coast near Bir Ali, but no additional casualties were reported, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

"In the Gulf of Aden, once again another tragedy ... At least 34 people being smuggled from Somalia drowned after being forced overboard by smugglers in deep waters off the coast of Yemen," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing.

The Geneva-based agency had raised the shooting with Yemeni authorities, who said the military had orders not to shoot at boats unless they had been fired on first by the smugglers or if they had prior information about a vessel smuggling weapons, drugs or other contraband.

"It is not the first time these boats have been fired on," Redmond said, adding that the precise circumstances in the latest incident were not clear.

The three boats carried 365 people: 234 Ethiopians and 131 Somalis. The smugglers, usually Somali, prey on people trying to escape violence and anarchy in Somalia, UNHCR says.

So far this year, more than 5,600 people have landed on the Yemeni coast and at least 200 people have died, although many remain missing, according to the agency.

AlertNet news is provided by