At least 139 migrants including 15 children die after boat capsizes off Djibouti en route to Yemen

At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, have died and 84 remain missing after an overcrowded boat carrying 305 people capsized off the coast of Djibouti while heading to Yemen, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday. The boat went down near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, during the night of 8-9 October.

Eighty-two people survived, all of them Ethiopian nationals. Djiboutian authorities continue search and rescue operations. Local officials are arranging burials for the dead and providing medical care to survivors. IOM teams are working alongside them. Sixty-four survivors are receiving assistance at a migrant response centre in Obock.

The IOM initially reported 109 dead and more than 116 missing. The toll rose after 30 additional bodies were recovered. Among the first 109 bodies identified were 52 men, 42 women and 15 children (nine girls and six boys). Some bodies have been buried by other migrants and will be added to the official count only after verification by authorities, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti Alexandre Coissac said.

Coissac called the loss of life devastating and a reminder of the risks on the Eastern Migration Route. Tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa attempt the crossing each year toward Gulf countries for work. Last year more than half a million people moved along the route into Yemen and at least 900 died or went missing, according to the agency. Since 10 September the IOM has recorded more than 20,000 arrivals in Djibouti from Ethiopia.

IOM Director General Amy Pope said no one boards such a boat unless they see no other safe option and called for expanded legal pathways. Poverty, insecurity and climate pressures drive the movement even as instability spreads across the Middle East. The wreck is among the deadliest recorded on the Djibouti-Yemen leg.

Survivors told IOM staff the vessel left Djibouti for Yemen with 305 people aboard. Personal items including shoes washed up on beaches near Obock. The Ethiopian government has not yet issued a public statement on the nationality of the dead and missing.

The practical next steps are continued recovery of bodies, identification of the missing, and support for the survivors who reached shore. Whether the death toll will rise further depends on how many of the 84 still unaccounted for are found. The route remains open and the conditions that push people onto the boats have not changed.