ADEN, Dec 31: Twenty-three Somalian boat people died from thirst and hunger Wednesday in a boat stranded off the coast of Yemen where they had sought refuge, a UN refugee official said today, reports AFP.

The Somalians had spent 12 days at sea when their boat broke down in the Gulf of Aden, said Nabil Mussa, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Aden.