SANAA - As many as 49 Somali refugees were drowned when their boat capsized four miles off the coast of Yemen's southeast province of Shabwa, Yemeni Interior Ministry said late on Wednesday.

Related readings:  Stark reality in a Somali community  UN: Somali piracy outpaces efforts to stop it  Somali woman gets sentence for plane hijacking

"A Somali refugee who survived and swam to the coast told the UNHCR in Shabwa, and the latter then reported it to the Yemeni local security authorities," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

It said the accident took place on Tuesday, caused by strong winds. It was unknown how many people were on the boat.

Yemeni coast-guards had started to help search for other survivors.