- UN agency: 16 dead, 28 missing in Djibouti vessel capsizing
- Incident follows recent tragedy, highlighting perilous migration route
- Majority of migrants attempting Saudi Arabia escape conflict and poverty
The United Nations migration agency reports that a vessel transporting asylum seekers capsized off the coast of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, resulting in the deaths of at least 16 individuals and the disappearance of 28 others.
The incident transpired on Monday evening, approximately fortnight following the sinking of a vessel transporting predominantly Ethiopian asylum seekers off the coast of Djibouti, which claimed the lives of several dozen individuals along the perilous “eastern migration route” connecting Africa and the Middle East.
“Tragically, a boat carrying 77 migrants, including children, capsizes off the coast of Djibouti,” the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
“A minimum of 28 are missing.” It added that the local IOM branch was “assisting local authorities with search and rescue operations” and reported 16 fatalities.
Yvonne Ndege, an agency spokesperson, informed AFP that among the sixteen fatalities were infants and children, but declined to provide additional information.
The Ethiopian ambassador to Djibouti, Berhanu Tsegaye, stated on X that the disaster occurred off Godoria in northeastern Djibouti while the vessel was carrying Ethiopians from Yemen.
He stated that one woman was among the 33 survivors.
On April 8, another vessel carrying over sixty individuals capsized off the coast of Godoria, as reported by the Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti and the IOM.
At that time, the IOM reported that 38 bodies, including those of minors, had been recovered, while six others remained missing.
The boat, according to the Ethiopian embassy, was transporting Ethiopians from Djibouti to the war-torn Yemen.
“Eastern Pathway”
Numerous tens of thousands of African asylum seekers attempt to reach Saudi Arabia annually via the “eastern route” via Yemen and the Red Sea, in an effort to escape natural disasters or conflict or to pursue improved economic opportunities.
During their journeys, many are subjected to perilous circumstances such as malnutrition, health hazards, and exploitation at the hands of human traffickers and other criminals,” the IOM said in a February statement.
According to IOM data from 2023, “the number of individuals attempting to cross is increasing,” according to Ndege.
The IOM reports that Ethiopians comprise 79 percent of the approximately 100,000 individuals who arrived in Yemen from Djibouti or Somalia last year; the remaining individuals are Somalis.
Ethiopia, the second-most populous country in Africa, has been beset by numerous conflicts and severe drought in recent years in several regions.
Over 15% of the nation’s 120 million residents are in need of nutritional assistance.
The IOM reported in February that, according to its Missing Migrants Project, at least 698 people had perished last year while crossing the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti to Yemen. This number included both children and women.
