A horrific maritime disaster has claimed the lives of at least 139 people off the coast of Djibouti, United Nations officials confirmed. The tragedy occurred late Thursday night when an overcrowded vessel carrying 305 migrants capsized near the port town of Obock.
Among the dead are 15 children.
Emergency crews initially reported a lower death toll, but the number rose sharply over the weekend. Search teams recovered 30 more bodies from the water, pushing the confirmed fatalities from 109 to 139. Dozens of others remain missing, leaving families in agonizing suspense. Rescuers managed to pull 82 survivors from the sea.
A Grim Reality on a Perilous Route
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been on the ground coordinating relief efforts. Alexandre Coissac, the agency’s mission chief in Djibouti, expressed his deep sorrow over the incident.
“This is a devastating loss of life,” Coissac said. He added that the disaster serves as a “stark reminder” of the extreme dangers migrants face every single day. His thoughts, he said, are with the survivors and the families who are still waiting for news of their missing loved ones.
All of the survivors identified so far are Ethiopian nationals. The IOM is currently assisting 64 of them at its response center in Obock. There, survivors are receiving medical attention, food, and psychosocial support. Crucially, staff are also helping them get back in touch with their families back home. Meanwhile, local authorities in Djibouti are working to arrange burials for the victims.
The survivors face not only physical injuries but deep psychological trauma. Many had to watch friends, relatives, and young children drown in the dark as the boat went down.
Why Migrants Take the Risk
It might seem strange to some that people are fleeing to Yemen, a country that has been trapped in a brutal, decade-long civil war. But for many, the journey across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a risk they feel forced to take. Driven by extreme poverty, lack of security, and the harsh realities of climate change, tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa leave their homes every year.
Most of them hope to transit through Yemen to reach wealthier Gulf nations, where they dream of finding steady work and safety.
The numbers are staggering. In just a short window since September 10, the IOM’s tracking systems registered over 20,000 migrant movements from Ethiopia into Djibouti. This tiny nation, a former French colony situated just across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, has become a major transit hub for people on the move.
A Growing Crisis at Sea
This latest shipwreck is part of a worrying upward trend. The Eastern Route, as it is known, is becoming increasingly crowded and deadly.
- In 2025, more than 900 migrants lost their lives or went missing along this same route.
- That same year saw an 18% spike in the number of people attempting the crossing.
- Just a few months ago, in March 2026, another boat sank in the same area, leaving nine people dead and 45 missing.
The humanitarian situation on the other side of the water is equally grim. The civil war in Yemen between Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed government has displaced over 130,000 people within the country. The violence is so severe that thousands of Yemenis have actually fled in the opposite direction, seeking refuge in Djibouti.
The IOM says it is working closely with local authorities to coordinate rescue operations, provide humanitarian aid, and find ways to prevent more deaths both on land and at sea. Yet as long as the root drivers—poverty, conflict, and climate change—remain unresolved, desperate people will continue to board unsafe boats in search of a better life.