thrown overboard despite their pleas for mercy . '' Andreas Koutepas , MSF 's field coordinator in southern Yemen , said such a high number of refugee deaths in a short period of time `` is not usual at all . '' `` For the whole of September until now , we 've had 27 dead and now suddenly we reach this number , '' Koutepas told CNN from MSF 's base in Ahwar , Yemen . `` We are quite shocked here . '' About 30,000 African refugees arrived on boats on Italy 's shores during the first 10 months of this year compared with 19,900 refugees last year , according to UNHCR . In Malta , an estimated 2,600 boat people arrived in the first nine months of this year from North Africa , compared with 1,800 last year , UNHCR said . . The agency said that from January to October this year , 509 of those attempting to make the journey to Italy and Malta died , compared with last year 's death toll of 471 . More than 38,000 people have made the perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen during
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The United Nations ' refugee agency said Tuesday that more Africans have fled poverty and conflict on the continent during the first 10 months of this year than in all of 2007 . A woman who has been displaced by the current fighting in the Congo . The bulk of the more than 96,000 African refugees headed to Yemen and Italy , according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees office . The rest sought refuge in Malta , Greece , Spain and the Canary Islands , the agency said . Last weekend , at least 60 refugees died en route to Yemen , a frequent destination for Somali and Ethiopian refugees , according to Doctors Without Borders , known by its French acronym MSF . UNHCR said most of those who died were forced overboard in deep water off Yemen 's coast by smugglers who demanded more money than the $ 100 they paid for the journey . `` Those who did not or could not pay extra were severely beaten by the smugglers , '' UNHCR said in a news release Tuesday . `` Up to 40 -- mainly Ethiopians -- -LSB- were -RSB-