International Organization for Migration workers receive migrants after a boat carrying about 305 people capsized while sailing from Djibouti to Yemen, killing at least 109 migrants, including 15 children, and leaving more than 116 missing, according to the United Nations agency on October 11. The incident occurred near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, Djibouti. The photograph was released on October 10, 2026. Kennedy Omondi Okoth/International Organization for Migration/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights.
At least 139 migrants, among them at least 15 children, died and about 84 remained missing after a vessel carrying more than 300 people capsized on the route from Djibouti to Yemen, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration said Sunday.
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The boat was carrying 305 people when it overturned near Guhere, north of Djibouti’s port town of Obock, during the night of October 8-9, the IOM said, citing accounts from survivors.
Around 82 people survived the shipwreck, according to the statement. A spokesperson for Ethiopia’s government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Images released by the UN agency showed battered sandals and sneakers scattered along the shoreline.
“Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance,” said Alexandre Coissac, the IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities,” Coissac said.
Djiboutian authorities continued search-and-rescue efforts, the IOM said. Local officials were also treating survivors and organizing burials for those who died.
The Djibouti government could not immediately be reached for comment.
The migrants had been traveling toward Yemen in the hope of eventually reaching the wealthier Gulf states. Their journey unfolded as Yemeni nationals continued to flee their own country, where fighting between Saudi Arabia-backed government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis has reached its most serious escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022.
“Despite the violence in Yemen, migrants are still making the perilous journeys hoping to make it to the Gulf countries,” the IOM said.
FIGHTING IN ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia has also seen fighting since last month, marking the largest escalation of violence there since the 2020-2022 Tigray war. An IOM official told Reuters that the agency had recorded substantial migrant movement along the so-called Eastern Route through Djibouti for several years.
“People continue to use the route amid changing conditions in Ethiopia and Yemen, although the volume and direction of movement can shift over time,” the official said.
Ethiopian migrants interviewed for the agency’s latest Djibouti situation report, covering September 20 to September 30, said they had left because of harsh living conditions, including the effects of drought.
“Some migrants also reported that they were fleeing conflict and forced recruitment by armed forces,” the report said.
Several residents of Tigray, where fighting broke out on September 23, told Reuters they had witnessed Tigrayan rebels forcibly recruiting young men into the defence forces. The rebels have denied carrying out forced recruitment.
The fighting has raised fears that Ethiopia and Eritrea could return to full-scale war, with relations between the two countries breaking down over allegations that Eritrea supports a rebel alliance seeking to overthrow Ethiopia’s government. Eritrea has denied backing the alliance.
SEVERE RISKS
The Eastern Route is fraught with danger, from deadly sea crossings to trafficking and arbitrary arrests after migrants reach land. More than 900 migrants died or disappeared along the route in 2025, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, while the number making the journey rose by 18%.
The IOM has called the crisis caused by fighting in Yemen alarming. Displacement figures climbed to 200,000 from 76,000 in mid-September, according to data the agency released last week.
More than 3,700 people had crossed by sea from Yemen to Djibouti as of last week, the agency said.
Reporting by Nethra Sailesh and Anusha Shah in Bengaluru and Ammu Kannampilly in Nairobi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Alexandra Hudson and Susan Fenton
