GENEVA, Jan 9 (Reuters) - More than 50,000 people fleeing chaotic conditions in Somalia and neighbouring countries crossed the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden to Yemen in 2008, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday.

At least 590 drowned and 359 were reported missing among the 50,091 known to have made the perilous voyage in Somalia-based smugglers' boats last year, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said.

The number of refugees was a 70 percent rise over 2007, when those making the journey with often brutal smugglers was 29,500 -- but the death toll was much higher in 2007 at 1,400, he told a news briefing.

"There were again many reports of people being beaten to death during the crossings in 2008, but most of the deaths were due to drowning after passengers were forced overboard in treacherous waters far off the Yemen coast in a bid by the smugglers to avoid detection by Yemen authorities," he said.

"The increase in arrivals reflects the desperate situation in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, a region scarred by civil war, political instability, famine and poverty." (Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Stephanie Nebehay)

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