New Delhi: At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, have died and 84 remain missing after a boat carrying 305 people capsized off Djibouti while heading towards Yemen on the night of October 8-9. More than 80 people survived the sinking near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, as local authorities continued searching for those unaccounted for.
All the survivors were Ethiopian nationals, with 64 receiving medical care, food and psychosocial support at a migrant response centre in Obock. The toll could rise as additional bodies are verified and authorities establish the fate of those missing.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) raised the confirmed toll from 109 after another 30 bodies were recovered. Some victims had been buried by fellow migrants and would not be added to the official count until their bodies were verified, the agency’s Djibouti chief, Alexandre Coissac, told the Associated Press.
Coissac said the vessel went down near the shore soon after passengers boarded on Thursday evening, with overcrowding identified as the principal cause. “Survivors told me that the boat started to sink backwards as soon as they got in it,” he told AFP.
He also said 150 passengers had previously been turned back from Yemen but were attempting the journey again. Djiboutian authorities were providing emergency medical assistance and arranging burials, while IOM workers helped survivors contact their families.
Dangerous passage towards Gulf countries
The crossing forms part of the eastern route, which takes migrants mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia through Djibouti and across the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to Yemen. Many hope to travel onwards to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries for employment, despite the risks from smugglers, unsafe boats and conflict in Yemen.
The danger extends beyond the sea crossing. The IOM’s Missing Migrants Project recorded more than 900 people dead or missing along the eastern route in 2025, when the number making the journey rose by 18 per cent.
Since September 10, IOM has tracked more than 20,000 movements from Ethiopia into Djibouti. Migrants interviewed in late September cited drought, difficult living conditions and, in some cases, conflict and forced recruitment as reasons for leaving, according to Reuters.
The flow has also reversed for people escaping violence in Yemen. More than 3,800 crossed to Djibouti seeking protection, according to figures from Djibouti’s refugee assistance authorities cited by the Guardian.
“No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way,” IOM director general, Amy Pope said. Search operations off Obock continued as authorities sought to identify the dead and account for the remaining 84 passengers.