Children among 109 dead after migrant boat capsizes off Africa
At least 109 migrants, including 15 children, have died after a boat capsized while sailing from Djibouti to Yemen, a UN agency said on Sunday.
The boat, which was carrying about 350 people, capsized near Guhere, north of Obock – a port town in Djibouti – during the evening of 8 October, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said, citing survivor accounts.
Among the 109 bodies recovered are 52 men, 42 women and 15 children, including nine girls and six boys.
Djiboutian authorities are continuing search and rescue operations for the more than 116 who remain missing.
More than 80 people survived the shipwreck, all Ethiopian nationals, the report said. IOM is assisting 64 survivors at its Obock Migrant Response Centre (MRC).
“This is a devastating loss of life. Our thoughts are with the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones or remain without news of their relatives,” said Alexandre Coissac, IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, in the statement.
“Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance. This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities.”
The Djibouti government could not be immediately reached for comment.
Yemen is experiencing the most serious escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia-backed government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis since a UN-brokered truce largely halted cross-border attacks in 2022. The renewed conflict could reshape control in Yemen, with implications for Red Sea shipping lanes.
IOM described the crisis sparked by the fighting as alarming, with displacement figures surging to 200,000 from 76,000 in mid-September, according to data released by the IOM last week.
More than 3,700 people have fled Yemen by sea to Djibouti as of last week, according to the IOM.
Fighting also broke out in Ethiopia last month in the biggest escalation of violence since the Tigray war.
A spokesperson for the Ethiopian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
