WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - At least 139 migrants have died after their boat capsized off Djibouti, with a further 84 people still missing, the International Organization for Migration said.
The toll rose from 109 after the bodies of 30 more people were recovered. Search and rescue efforts are continuing.
The boat was carrying 305 people from Djibouti towards Yemen when it went down near Guehere, north of Obock, in the early hours of Friday. About 82 people survived, according to IOM.
The UN migration agency described it as one of the deadliest shipwrecks recorded on the Eastern Route, which runs from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
The shipwreck comes as Djibouti deals with continued traffic in both directions.
Since September 10, IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix has recorded more than 20,000 movements into the country from Ethiopia, as migrants keep heading for the Gulf despite the return to full-scale fighting in Yemen.
Over roughly the same period, more than 3,700 refugees have arrived from Yemen, while 539 Ethiopian migrants have come back from there.
Alexandre Coissac, IOM's chief of mission in Djibouti, told journalists in Geneva last week that the country was facing 'overlapping emergencies'.
'Djibouti is therefore confronting movements in both directions,' Coissac said, adding that migrants were increasingly becoming stranded, with more than 3,000 seen along routes in Djibouti between 20 and 30 September, often without access to basic services.
'No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way,' said IOM Director General Amy Pope.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Djibouti, Jose Barahona, said he was deeply saddened by the loss of at least 139 lives, among them children.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
