‘Started to sink backwards’: 139 migrants killed as boat capsizes off Djibouti
A migrant boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, resulting in at least 139 deaths and 84 people missing. The vessel was carrying over 300 people, primarily Ethiopian nationals, attempting to reach Yemen via the dangerous Bab al-Mandeb strait.
Why it matters
This tragedy highlights the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the extreme risks faced by migrants fleeing poverty and instability in the Horn of Africa.
At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, have died and 84 remain missing after an overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti while carrying more than 300 people towards Yemen, the United Nations migration agency said on Sunday.The boat was carrying 305 people, most of them Ethiopians, when it sank near Guhere, off Djibouti’s eastern coast, in the Gulf of Aden during the night of October 8-9, according to the international organisation for migration (IOM). At least 82 people survived, all of them Ethiopian nationals.“Survivors told me that the boat started to sink backwards as soon as they got in it,” Alexandre Coissac, IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti, said, describing the incident as a “devastating loss of life”.The agency initially reported 109 deaths and 116 people missing, but revised the toll to 139 dead and 84 missing after more bodies were recovered.
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