At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, have died and 84 remain missing after an overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti while carrying more than 300 people towards Yemen, the United Nations migration agency said on Sunday. The boat was carrying 305 people, most of them Ethiopians, when it sank near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, in the Gulf of Aden during the night of October 8-9, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Around 82 people survived, all of them Ethiopian nationals.

‘The boat started to sink backwards’

Survivors told the IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti, Alexandre Coissac, that the boat began sinking backwards as soon as they boarded it. Coissac described the incident as a devastating loss of life. The agency initially reported 109 deaths and 116 people missing, but revised the toll to 139 dead and 84 missing after more bodies were recovered. The official count may rise further, as some bodies buried by fellow migrants have yet to be verified by authorities, Coissac told the Associated Press.

Djiboutian authorities continued search and rescue operations, while IOM teams provided emergency assistance. The agency said it was assisting 64 survivors at a migrant centre in the coastal town of Obock.

A dangerous corridor

The crossing from the Horn of Africa to Yemen via the Bab al-Mandeb strait is a popular but dangerous route for migrants seeking jobs and safety in Gulf countries. Coissac said 150 people aboard the boat had previously been turned back from Yemen but had attempted the crossing again. Poverty, insecurity and the growing impacts of climate change drive many to undertake the journey despite mounting instability across the Middle East, the IOM said. The agency recorded more than 20,000 incoming movements from Ethiopia to Djibouti since September 10.