139 migrants dead, 84 missing after boat capsizes off Djibouti
At least 139 migrants died after a boat carrying hundreds of people to Yemen capsized off Djibouti in East Africa, according to the United Nations’ migration agency. Another 84 people remain missing.
The boat was carrying 305 people from Djibouti to Yemen when it capsized near Guehere, north of Obock, overnight Thursday into Friday. Djiboutian authorities are continuing search and rescue operations.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed Sunday that 139 people had died, up from an initial toll of 109. About 82 people survived.
At least 15 children were among those killed, including nine girls and six boys, according to the agency’s earlier breakdown of the victims. The survivors were identified as Ethiopian nationals.
IOM is assisting survivors at its Migrant Response Centre in Obock, providing medical care, psychological support, food, shelter and protection services. Local authorities are also arranging burials for those who died.
“No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said. “We cannot keep treating these deaths as normal. Safe and legal pathways save lives.”
The agency described the shipwreck as one of the deadliest recorded on the Eastern Route, a migration corridor used by people travelling from the Horn of Africa through Yemen toward Gulf countries.
More than 900 migrants died or went missing along the route in 2025, while the number making the journey increased by 18%, IOM said. Another shipwreck in March left nine people dead and 45 missing.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
