IOM workers receiving migrants near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock. International Organization for Migration
A boat carrying migrants from Djibouti to Yemen capsized off the coast of Djibouti, killing at least 139 people, including 15 children, while dozens remain missing, the UN migration agency said.
- Advertisement -
The vessel was carrying 305 people when it overturned near the port town of Obock on Thursday night. About 82 people were rescued, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
IOM Djibouti mission chief Alexandre Coissac described the disaster as a “stark reminder” of the dangers faced by migrants seeking a better life elsewhere.
Each year, tens of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa undertake the hazardous journey in the hope of reaching Gulf countries for safety and employment, the agency said.
The IOM increased the reported death toll from 109 on Sunday after an additional 30 bodies were recovered.
“This is a devastating loss of life,” Coissac said. “Our thoughts are with the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones or remain without news of their relatives.”
Local authorities were making arrangements to bury those who died. The survivors, all Ethiopian nationals, have access to medical care, officials said.
Yemen has been trapped in a civil war for more than a decade. Yet despite the conflict and rising instability across the region, migrants continue crossing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Yemen, driven by poverty, insecurity and worsening climate-change impacts.
The IOM said its Displacement Tracking Matrix had recorded more than 20,000 “movements” from Ethiopia to Djibouti since 10 September.
The agency said it was assisting 64 survivors at its response centre in Obock, where they were receiving healthcare and help to “restore contact with their families”.
The UN agency said it was working in “close collaboration” with local authorities to support migrants and “prevent deaths at sea and on land”.
IOM figures show that more than 900 migrants died or disappeared while attempting the same route in 2025, when the number of people making the journey rose by 18%.
A similar incident in March 2026 left nine people dead and 45 missing.
The conflict in Yemen has also displaced more than 130,000 people inside the country, the UN refugee agency said last month.
Thousands of Yemenis have crossed to Djibouti to flee the civil war between Houthi fighters and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
Djibouti, a small former French colony, lies across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen.
