At Least 139 Migrants Drowned in Shipwreck Off Djibouti Coast

At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, drowned off the coast of Djibouti in East Africa while attempting to reach Yemen on their way to Persian Gulf nations, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on Sunday. The vessel was carrying 305 people when it sank between Thursday and night near the village of Goubetto, north of the port town of Obock. Only 82 passengers survived the disaster, while 84 others remain missing.

Most of the passengers were Ethiopian nationals hoping to cross the Bab el-Mandeb strait to reach Yemen and subsequently find employment in the Gulf states amid renewed conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region. According to survivor testimonies, the overloaded boat began to sink from the stern almost immediately after departure. Alexander Zouesbak, head of the IOM mission in Djibouti, told AFP that local authorities were overwhelmed by the number of bodies washing ashore.

The Deadly Eastern Route

This disaster marks one of the deadliest incidents along the migration corridor known as the "Eastern Route," which connects the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula. Every year, hundreds of thousands of individuals from Ethiopia and Somalia risk their lives traversing Djibouti, Yemen, and onwards to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in search of better economic opportunities.

Data from the IOM indicates that more than 900 people died or went missing along the Eastern Route in 2025, even as migration traffic surged by 18% compared to the previous year. Driven by extreme poverty, drought, and ongoing violence in regions like Tigray, migrants continue to place their lives in the hands of smugglers despite severe risks on both sides of the Bab el-Mandeb strait.

"No one boards a boat like this unless they believe there is no safer alternative," said IOM Director General Amy Pope. "We cannot continue to treat these preventable deaths as normal."