Desperate to escape the horrors of war and famine tens of thousands of African refugees are continuing to make the dangerous crossing over the Red Sea to reach the shores of Yemen in the hope they will manage to reach the promised Eden, the land of plenty - Saudi Arabia.
Piled upon shabby fishing boats, refugees begun their perilous journey, unaware of the sheer horrors which await them beyond the shores of Africa, willingly heading to Yemen, the most restive and impoverished nation of the Arabian Peninsula, a failed state which is crumbling under the weight of its own insecurity and economic uncertainties.
For a fee of $300 per passenger, smugglers will carry through refugees to Yemen. BBC reporters already established in a report aired in July that smugglers are working in partnership with Yemen authorities -- Yemen National Security Bureau, the military and the coastguards -- with which they share the proceed of their illegal trade.
With nothing to carry but a bundle of clothe tightly wrapped up in a plastic bag and a few dollars in his pocket, Abdullah recalled how he started off his crossing to Yemen.
"We sailed at the dead of night to avoid being spotted by the authorities, the smugglers ordered about 20 of us onboard of a small fishing boat. I managed to settle in the middle knowing if the waves were too strong I would be safer there.
I don't know how long it really took us to get to shore ... It seemed for ever.
I was so exhausted by the time we reach Yemen that I collapsed on the sand, not being able to move ... Only feeling the soft ground under my feet.
Somalia was far away by then. At that time I thought I had made it. I was wrong!"
Upon their arrival to Yemen and depending entirely on their luck refugees will either be rounded up by honest Yemeni patrols and directed to one of the many refugee camps run by the Red Cross or the UNHCR where they actually stand a chance at a better life, manage to escape detection on the coast and head north toward Haradh near the Saudi border or face being picked by unscrupulous Yemeni military men who will sell them on to traffickers, who in turn will abuse and mistreat them at will, all men and reduced to no more than a disposable commodity on the human trafficking market.
While such harrowing tales of mistreatment and tortures already broke out as early as 2011 when humanitarian workers and local tribes complained smugglers were setting up slave camps across the northern Hajjah province - which sits directly south of the Saudi border - little has been done if anything at all to stem out human trafficking, thus allowing the trade to flourish and expand exponentially over the past two years alone.
Yemeni officials have already estimated that human trafficking is generating in trade tens of millions of dollars per year.
Slavery and human trafficking have become such a generalize trade that only through a coordinated international efforts could Yemen ever hope to eradicate it warned local officials and tribal leaders, adding that widespread corruption would render any unilateral efforts useless.
Corruption
Salma a young Ethiopian girl who endured months of savage beating and abuse from her captors explained how she managed to walk safely with a group of refugee to the norther province of Hajjah, only a few kilometers from her final goal, Saudi Arabia before she fell prey to smugglers. As her group ventured on an open road Yemeni soldiers rounded everyone up, taking the little money they had left before selling them on to local traffickers.
Salma who overheard one the soldiers argue his price on the phone, recall that the women were sold each for $260.
Soon after the trade was agreed upon, Salma and her fellow refugees were transported to a slave camp, where they spent the next few months in agony.
Raped, beaten and brutally tortured by her captors, Salma owed her freedom to the mercy of one her tormentors. Salma is now safely housed in Haradh refugee camp under the protection of the International Organization for Migration.
Countless refugees in Haradh have testified that Yemeni soldiers and officers are shamelessly dealing with traffickers and criminals in exchange for a percentage of the proceeds, many willingly turning a blind to eye to reports of torture and abuse for the sake a few extra dollars.
Abdullah explained how within half an hour of his arrival a group of Yemeni harangued the refugees, demanding to be paid before allowing them through.
Abdullah noticed at the time that several men were wearing uniforms. "I saw one of the smugglers hand some cash to a man in uniform. I was forced to give away the rest of my money. The men threatened to shoot me if I refused."
"Several men were gathered and taken away into a truck. Me and some five others were left on the beach alone, not knowing what to do."
Harrowing Abuse
Haffan a young Ethiopian refugee now paralyzed told BBC reporters how his captors use to beat him with a wooden stick every morning and every evening without fail, telling his father back in Ethiopia that unless he wired enough money to free his son they would eventually have to kill him.
Although Haffan's father managed to wire the $300 requested, his son remained under custody as more money was demanded.
If it wasn't for an opportune military raid, Haffan would probably have died in the slave camp, beaten to death like his comrades.
While alive, Haffan appears dramatically weaken, a shadow of his former self. Because of the severity of his injuries, the young man lost the use of legs, his lief stolen from underneath him.
Another escapee, Hali recalled how after a run in with traffickers he endured days of sickening torture. "I was burned with molten plastic ... Beaten with metal cable and wood sticks ... Burned with cigarettes buds and threatened with rape if my family did not pay up."
Hung by his thumbs days on end, Hali who eventually managed to escape the horrors of the slave camp lost his arm when a Saudi border patrol left him hang upside down on a tree, his arm broken in several places.
Salah al-Azari who works for the International Organization for Migration said Yemen's African refugees crisis has reached a cataclysmic humanitarian level.
Aware of widespread corruption Salah explained that unless Yemen could master enough political will to end this cycle of violence, the situation would continue to deteriorate.