At least 139 people, including 15 children, have died after a boat carrying 305 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti, with another 84 people still missing, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said.
The boat was travelling from Djibouti to Yemen when it overturned near Guhere, north of the fishing town of Obock, during the night of 8–9 October, according to survivors.
The UN agency said 82 people, all Ethiopian nationals, survived the disaster, describing it as one of the deadliest recorded incidents along the eastern migration route linking the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
“This is a devastating loss of life,” said Alexandre Coissac, the IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti, expressing condolences to bereaved families and concern for those still awaiting news of missing relatives.
The IOM is providing medical care, food and psychosocial support to 64 survivors at its migrant response centre in Obock.
Djiboutian authorities are continuing search-and-rescue operations, treating survivors and arranging burials for those who died.
The eastern route is one of the world’s busiest and most dangerous migration corridors, with hundreds of thousands of people, mainly Ethiopians and Somalis, travelling towards Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, each year in search of work or to escape conflict and natural disasters.
Many undertake the perilous journey aboard overcrowded boats operated by smugglers across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, where capsizings, extreme heat and other hazards claim lives.
The latest tragedy underscores the deadly risks faced by migrants attempting to reach the Arabian Peninsula through one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes.