Almotamar.net, Google - GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) - At least 18 people have drowned after a smuggler's boat carrying 88 people from Somalia to Yemen capsized this week in the Gulf of Aden, the United Nations refugee agency said on Thursday.

The boat left on June 11 and sailed for four days before hitting strong winds and taking on water, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement.

Another 29 people are still missing and presumed dead after the latest fatal accident in the sea lane connecting the Horn of Africa and Yemen, seen as a gateway to jobs in the Middle East.

"More bodies are expected to be washed ashore," the UNHCR said, estimating that 146 people have drowned attempting the Gulf of Aden voyage so far this year and 25,764 have arrived safely in Yemen.

"Those who make the crossing are fleeing desperate situations of civil war, political instability, poverty and famine in Somalia and the Horn of Africa," it said.

Yemeni Interior Ministry said 20 women from among the 60 Somali refugees have been found by security services in the districts of Thubab and Mouza , Taiz governorate.

According t Yemeni security services 51 refugees landed on Al-Seemil and Harja coast in Thubab district and other 9 of them were spotted in Mouza district.

According to the Interior Ministry Security Information Centre, the main camp for Somali refugees in Kharaz district, Lahj governo4rate received on Thursday 83 Somali refugees, among them 28 women and 55 of those refugees were transferred to Shabwa governorate.