At least 86 people have died after being forced at gunpoint to jump into the sea in Somalia.
They were forced to jump from a cargo boat which was taking them from northern Somalia to Yemen, claims a radio operator.
The ship had left Bosaso in the north-eastern region of Puntland 10 days ago with more than 150 people on board, he said.
Yesterday, a fishing boat towed the boat into Lasqory, a remote Somalian village, with around 70 surviving passengers, the operator, said.
Local journalists said a local official in Lasqory, Mr Mohamed Aden Issa, had confirmed the incident and said five of the 70 died of malnutrition today.
Mr Issa told the journalist the whereabouts of the crew was not known.
Cargo boats have been taking passengers across the Gulf of Aden since a number of Middle East countries imposed a livestock ban on Somalia following an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in Saudi Arabia. Somalia's main export is livestock to Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
The self-declared nation of Puntland, in north-eastern Somalia, broke away from the rest of Somalia after years of factional fighting prevented the establishment of a central government following the 1991 ouster of the late dictator Mr Mohamed Siad Barre.
Puntland's independence is not recognized by any nation, or the new transitional government in Mogadishu.
PA