At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, are dead after a severely overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti late Thursday or early Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported Sunday.
The vessel was carrying 305 people from Djibouti toward Yemen when it went down near Guhere, north of Obock. At least 84 people remain missing. More than 80 survived, and all of the survivors are Ethiopian nationals, according to the IOM.
IOM Director General Amy Pope said the deaths are the predictable result of people with no legal way to travel taking on deadly risk.
“No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way,” Pope said. “We cannot keep treating these deaths as normal. Safe and legal pathways save lives. I am asking governments and donors to act before the next boat goes down.”
IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac told The Associated Press the confirmed toll reflects only victims already buried and verified by Djiboutian authorities, meaning the count could still rise. Some bodies were buried by fellow migrants and have not yet been added to the official tally pending verification.
“What is terrible is that they were buried with no names, in a common grave, like in a war situation,” Coissac said. “They all have a mother, a father, and we may never learn what happened.”
Coissac said the boat went down shortly after leaving port on the evening of October 8, mainly because it was overloaded.
Survivors were brought to an IOM rescue center in Obock, where they are being treated for seawater ingestion and given psychological support.
“They’re all in a state of shock,” Coissac said.
The sea route from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula is one of the busiest and most dangerous migration corridors in the world, used by people seeking work in Gulf countries. More than 900 migrants died or went missing along that route last year alone, the IOM said.
