Eight refugees and migrants have died and 22 others are missing after they were forced off a boat near the Djibouti coast, according to the United Nations agency the International Organization for Migration (IOM).<<<IOM>>>

In a statement, IOM said the dead and missing were part of a group of 150 others who were forced by smugglers to get off a boat and swim to shore last week on June 5. The surviving refugees and migrants were reportedly found in the desert by IOM patrol teams and taken to a response centre.

The IOM and Djibouti authorities are continuing with a search-and-rescue operation to find the missing.