Djibouti migrant boat capsizes, death toll rises to 139, UN says

At least 139 migrants, 15 of them children, died after an overcrowded boat headed for Yemen capsized off Djibouti's northern coast, the U.N.'s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday. Djiboutian authorities are still searching for 84 people who remain missing.today.lorientlejour+2

The boat was carrying about 305 people. Survivors told the IOM it overturned near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, during the night of Oct. 8 into Oct. 9. Eighty-two people survived, and all of them are Ethiopian nationals, according to the agency's updated figures.thenationalnews+2

Death toll rises during the day

Earlier on Sunday, the IOM put the toll at 109 dead and 116 missing. It raised the figures after 30 more bodies were recovered. The first 109 bodies included 52 men, 42 women and 15 children: nine girls and six boys.newsweek+2

Alexandre Coissac, the IOM's chief of mission in Djibouti, told the AP that the count only covers victims buried by Djiboutian authorities. Migrants buried some of the dead themselves, and those bodies will not be counted until authorities can verify them. Coissac also said about 150 of the people on board had been turned back from Yemen before and were trying the crossing again.today.lorientlejour+1

"This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities," Coissac said.thenationalnews

The IOM said it was helping 64 survivors at its Migrant Response Centre in Obock with health care, shelter, food, psychosocial support and help reaching their families. Local authorities are giving medical care and arranging burials. The agency said "Djiboutian authorities are continuing search and rescue operations as fears grow for those still missing". Reuters said the Ethiopian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.newsweek+2

A dangerous route

Every year, tens of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa travel through Djibouti and cross the Bab al-Mandeb strait to Yemen. Many hope to go on to find work in Gulf countries. People are still making the crossing even though Yemeni government forces have been fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Yemen's Red Sea coast since early September. Over the same period, more than 3,700 people have fled that fighting by crossing from Yemen to Djibouti, according to the IOM.thenationalnews

The shipwreck also comes as fighting has resumed in Ethiopia's Tigray region, nearly four years after a peace deal ended a two-year civil war there. The IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix has recorded more than 20,000 incoming movements from Ethiopia into Djibouti since Sept. 10.thenationalnews

The IOM called on "donors and partners to strengthen support for Djibouti's response, including search and rescue operations and life-saving assistance".today.lorientlejour