Shipwreck off Djibouti leaves 139 migrants dead and 84 missing
The boat was carrying 305 people, most of them Ethiopian. The disaster puts renewed attention on the migration route to Yemen and the Gulf countries.
The death toll from a shipwreck off the coast of Djibouti rose on Sunday to 139, including 15 children, with another 84 people missing, according to the International Organization for Migration. The boat was carrying 305 people when it sank north of Obock overnight between October 8 and 9.
Search teams were still trying to locate those missing. The toll could change: initial reports had put the number of deaths at 109. The update confirms the scale of a disaster affecting mainly Ethiopian migrants.
The destination lies across the Red Sea
The journey was part of the route linking the Horn of Africa to Yemen and, from there, to the Gulf countries, where many migrants seek work. It was not a crossing to Europe. That distinction matters in understanding a migration route that often receives less international attention than Mediterranean crossings.
The boat was overloaded, according to information from IOM reported by AFP and Associated Press. The organization said there were 82 survivors, all Ethiopian; 64 were receiving assistance in Obock. Recovering the bodies and caring for those who reached land were two parts of the same emergency.
For those who managed to escape the water, the assistance center provides medical care and psychological support. Some have been able to contact their families. Others face the loss of the people with whom they began the journey, according to the account reported by Associated Press.
A route to work with an extreme human cost
IOM Director General Amy Pope called for safer, legal migration pathways. Her appeal places the response beyond rescue operations: people seeking work need alternatives to boats where overcrowding turns the journey into a deadly hazard.
For the survivors, reaching the coast does not end the emergency. Assistance is needed, as is time to establish what happened to their fellow travelers. For the families of those missing, the outcome of the search remains the crucial news. Sunday's toll gives a measure of the loss; it does not yet bring the tragedy to a close.
