AT LEAST 42 Somali refugees were killed yesterday when a helicopter opened fire on the boat they were being carried in off the coast of Yemen.

Survivor Al-Hassan Ghaleb Mohammed said a helicopter gunship attacked his boat as he was trafficking war refugees from the Red Sea port of Ras Arra to Sudan at 3am.

He said the gunship stopped firing only after they shone torches to show the passengers were civilians.

The International Organisation for Migration emergency director Mohammed Abdiker confirmed that dozens had been killed and more injured in the attack.

He said the shooting was “totally unacceptable,” adding that the responsible combatants should have checked who was aboard the boat “before firing on it.”

About 75 men and 15 women who survived the attack were taken to detention centres, and some bodies were laid in a fish market in the town of Hodeida because of a lack of space in mortuaries, Mr Abdiker said.

Laurent De Boeck, the head of the IOM’s Yemeni office, said the UN agency believes all those on board the stricken vessel were registered refugees.

It was not confirmed yesterday who was responsible for the attack.

However Yemen’s Saba news agency accused the Saudi-led invasion coalition — a group of nine nations battling Houthi rebels in Yemen — of carrying out the massacre.

Saudi Arabia possesses USbuilt Apache A-64 Longbow attack helicopters — the aircraft believed to have carried out the attack.

The coalition has committed countless atrocities since the start of its war on Yemen two years ago this month — with the help of US refuelling planes and British arms sales.