At least 139 dead as migrant boat sinks off Djibouti
Fifteen children are among the dead and 84 people are missing. Survivors, all Ethiopian, say the boat began to sink as soon as they boarded.
Obock — At least 139 people have died after a boat carrying migrants to Yemen capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the UN migration agency says, according to Africanews.
The boat went down on Thursday night off the port town of Obock. Fifteen of the dead are children. Eighty-four people are still missing.
Eighty-two people survived. All of them are Ethiopian.
"On board were women and men, but also children. The provisional toll is particularly heavy," said Safiya Ibrahim, a coordinator with the International Organization for Migration.
'It started to sink as soon as they got in'
The agency's head of mission in Djibouti, Alexandre Coissac, spoke to those who were rescued. "Survivors told me that the boat started to sink backwards as soon as they got in it," he said.
One survivor told him they had come from Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, where fighting between regional forces and the federal government has flared up again.
Coissac called the disaster a "stark reminder" of the dangers people face when they set out in search of a new life.
The search
Personal belongings, apparently from those on board, have washed up on a beach as the search continues. The agency is giving survivors medical care and helping them contact their families.
A deadly crossing
Tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Yemen each year, hoping to reach the Gulf states to work. They make the journey despite the civil war in Yemen.
The sinking comes days after the agency reported that more than 20,000 Ethiopians had crossed into Djibouti in three weeks.
This report is based on reporting by Africanews.
