At least 109 migrants, including 15 children, have died and more than 116 remain missing after an overcrowded boat traveling from Djibouti to Yemen capsized off Djibouti’s northern coast.
The vessel overturned near Guhere, north of the coastal town of Obock, during the night of October 8–9, according to survivors cited by the International Organization for Migration. Estimates of the number aboard vary, with the IOM reporting 305 passengers and other accounts putting the figure at about 350. More than 80 people survived, all of them Ethiopian nationals, while 109 bodies have been recovered.
The dead include 52 men, 42 women and 15 children—nine girls and six boys, the IOM said. Djiboutian authorities are continuing search-and-rescue operations as fears grow that many of the missing passengers may have drowned. The IOM is assisting survivors with medical care, shelter, food, psychological support and help contacting relatives.
The crossing of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is part of a heavily traveled migration route used by people from the Horn of Africa seeking work, safety or passage toward Gulf countries, despite dangers including shipwrecks, trafficking, detention and violence.