SANAA, Nov 30 (Reuters) - About 80 people drowned off the coast of Yemen when their boat sank while trying to cross from Somalia to the Arab country, a Yemeni official said on Friday.

About 45 others survived after the vessel, carrying an estimated 126 migrants, went down close to the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula country late on Thursday, the official said. Most of the survivors were Somalis.

Rescuers and fishermen pulled 27 bodies from the sea, he told Reuters. The survivors were handed over to officials of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

Many African migrants cross to Yemen, which they see as a gateway to other parts of the Middle East and the West.

Sixty-five people, including three children, drowned in the Gulf of Aden while trying to cross from Somalia to Yemen last week. (Reporting by Mohamed Sudam; Writing by Firouz Sedarat; Editing by Michael Winfrey)

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