GENEVA, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Some 40 Africans have been confirmed dead or remain missing after they were forced overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

    The 40 people were among a total of 115 passengers, mostly Somalis and Ethiopians, on a smuggling boat which departed from northern Somalia and headed for Yemen, Ron Redmond, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing in Geneva.

    On Sunday, as the boat was within sight of the Yemeni coast but still in deep water, the smugglers threw the 40 mostly Ethiopian people overboard because they did not or could not pay extra, according to survivors of the dangerous journey.

    Twelve bodies have so far washed up on the beach and 28 remain missing, Redmond said.

    The remaining 75 boat passengers survived and have arrived in a UNHCR reception center in Yemen where they are receiving help, he added.

    Over 600 African migrants have been reported dead or missing so far this year trying to cross the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen in smugglers' boats, according to UNHCR figures.

    During the first 10 months of this year, over 38,000 people made the dangerous crossing by boat. This represents a considerable increase from the 29,500 who made the same journey during the whole of last year.