At least 109 migrants, including 15 children, have died and more than 116 others remain missing after a boat carrying migrants from Djibouti to Yemen capsized, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said.
The boat, carrying about 350 people, capsized near Guhere, north of Obock in Djibouti, during the night of October 8 to 9, according to the agency’s statement published on Sunday.
The bodies recovered include 52 men, 42 women and 15 children, comprising nine girls and six boys.
More than 80 people survived the shipwreck, all of them Ethiopian nationals. The IOM said it was assisting 64 survivors at its Migrant Response Centre in Obock.
The agency’s teams are working with Djiboutian authorities to provide healthcare, psychosocial support, protection services, temporary shelter and food to survivors, as well as help them reconnect with their families.
“The tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities,” the IOM’s Chief of Mission in Djibouti, Alexandre Coissac, said.
Djiboutian authorities are continuing search and rescue operations for those still missing, while local authorities are providing medical care to survivors and arranging burials for those who died.
The route from the Horn of Africa through Djibouti and across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Yemen is used by migrants seeking safety, stability and employment in Gulf countries.
According to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, more than 900 migrants died or went missing along the route in 2025.
