 "One dead, 180 missing as migrant boats capsize off Yemen, Djibouti")
Four boats carrying migrants have sunk off Djibouti and Yemen, killing at least one person and leaving more than 180 missing, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The boats were carrying migrants from a Horn of Africa country and capsized off Yemen’s Dhubab district in Ta’iz governorate, IOM said.
“Despite weather warnings, the boats sank in rough seas. Only two Yemeni crew members were rescued, while all passengers and the remaining crew are feared dead, with no bodies recovered yet,” IOM spokesperson Tamim Elyan said on Friday.
“Over 180 migrants are missing after four boats sank last night off the coasts of Djibouti and Yemen,” the IOM said.
Two of the vessels, one believed to be carrying at least 30 people and the other roughly 150, were missing off the coast of Yemen, according to the IOM country chief of mission Abdusattor Esoev.
“We are talking about 186 people that may have unfortunately perished in the sea,” he told AFP.
The majority of those onboard were believed to be Ethiopian migrants, he said, although five were thought to be Yemeni crew members. At least 57, from both boats, were women.
“We are working with authorities to see if we can find any survivors, but I’m afraid we may not have any,” Esoev said.
The other two vessels capsized due to strong winds off the coast of Djibouti, he said, based on information he had received.
“One or two migrants have reportedly lost their lives, but the rest of them were rescued,” he told AFP, without giving more details.
He said that his IOM colleagues in Djibouti were assisting those who had been rescued.
“The number of people arriving in Yemen from Ethiopia and Djibouti is unfortunately not decreasing,” Esoev said.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe added many migrants undertaking the route originated from Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, ravaged by war between 2020 and 2022.
Eastern route
It is one of the world’s most dangerous migrant routes, according to the IOM, which documented more than 60,000 migrant arrivals in Yemen in 2024.
A March IOM report showed the number of those attempting the “eastern route” had risen 13 percent in 2024, to 446,194.
IOM, which runs a tally of migrants who are killed or missing on migration routes, said in the post that 558 people lost their life on the route between the Eastern Horn of Africa and Yemen last year.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people leave the Horn of Africa that is plagued by chronic instability to pursue better economic prospects in Gulf nations via the so-called Eastern Route, described by the IOM as one of the world’s busiest and riskiest migration corridors.
With inputs from agencies
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