At least 139 migrants die after boat capsizes off Djibouti

DJIBOUTI, 12 October 2026 — At least 139 people died and 84 remain missing after an overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration said. The vessel was carrying about 305 passengers, most of them Ethiopian, on a route across the Red Sea toward Yemen.

The boat sank on a stretch of water that smugglers have used for years to move migrants from the Horn of Africa toward the Arabian Peninsula. Survivors were recovered by local authorities and search teams. The dead include children. Djiboutian officials have not yet released a full nationality breakdown beyond the IOM’s initial assessment that the majority were Ethiopian.

The incident is one of the deadliest single losses on the eastern migration route this year. The same corridor has seen repeated capsizings as groups attempt to reach Yemen and then Saudi Arabia in search of work. Smugglers pack wooden and fibreglass boats beyond safe capacity. Weather, engine failure and the absence of life jackets turn ordinary crossings into mass-casualty events.

The IOM and the U.N. refugee agency have documented thousands of deaths and disappearances on this route over the past decade. Ethiopian authorities have periodically arrested smugglers and issued travel warnings, yet departures continue from coastal points in Djibouti and Somalia. Yemen’s ongoing conflict has not reduced demand; many migrants still view the crossing as the only available path to Gulf labour markets.

For coastal communities in Djibouti the immediate work is identification and burial. For families in Ethiopia the wait for confirmed lists will last days or weeks. For governments that receive the survivors, the question is whether temporary shelter and return assistance will be offered or whether the group will be left to attempt the journey again. No government has yet announced a coordinated rescue or investigation into the specific vessel and its operators.

The numbers themselves are the clearest fact available: a single boat, more than 300 people aboard, at least 139 confirmed dead, 84 still unaccounted for. Those figures place the sinking among the largest single losses recorded on the Red Sea route in 2026.