At least 139 migrants, including at least 15 children, have died after a migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti, the United Nations migration agency said on Sunday. Around 84 people remain missing, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) described the sinking as one of the deadliest shipwrecks recorded on the route.
The boat was carrying 305 people from Djibouti towards Yemen. Survivors told the agency it capsized near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, during the night of October 8-9. Around 82 people survived the sinking, and all of them are Ethiopian nationals, the IOM said.
Migrant boat capsizes off Djibouti: toll rises as search continues
The death toll climbed through the weekend. An earlier IOM statement put the dead at 109, with 116 people missing. The figure then rose to 139 after search teams recovered 30 more bodies along the coast.
Djiboutian authorities are still running search and rescue operations in the area. Local officials are also providing medical care to survivors and arranging burials for the dead. IOM teams are working beside them, and the agency is helping survivors at its Migrant Response Centre in Obock with health care, food and other support.
Photographs released by the agency showed worn sandals and shoes washed up on the shore near Guhere. Alexandre Coissac, the IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, said the agency’s teams were on the ground with local authorities to provide emergency help. He called the sinking a stark reminder of the dangers migrants face along the corridor. Neither the Djibouti government nor an Ethiopian government spokesperson commented immediately.
Why migrants still cross towards a war
The vessel was crossing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait towards Yemen. Most passengers hope to travel on from Yemen to the richer Gulf states in search of work. Tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa make the same journey through Djibouti every year, the IOM said.
That movement has continued even as Yemen’s war has worsened again. Fighting between the Saudi-backed government and the Houthis has seen its most serious escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022, a conflict tracked in our report on coalition operations against Houthi targets in Yemen. Yemeni civilians keep paying the price on land too, as our coverage of Houthi attacks in Taiz shows. The IOM said displacement inside Yemen surged from 76,000 to 200,000 in a few weeks from mid-September, and more than 3,700 people have fled Yemen by sea to Djibouti.
Conditions at home push many Ethiopians to leave despite those risks. In the agency’s most recent situation report on Djibouti, covering September 20-30, migrants said they had left because of hard living conditions, including the effects of drought. Some also reported fleeing conflict and forced recruitment by armed groups.
One of the deadliest routes in the world
The crossing, known as the Eastern Route, carries dangers at sea and on land. The IOM lists sea accidents, trafficking and arbitrary arrest among the main risks. More than 900 migrants died or went missing along the route in 2025, according to the agency’s Missing Migrants Project, in a year when the number of journeys rose by 18 per cent.
Regional tensions have added to the danger around the strait. Shipping through nearby waters has faced repeated disruption, including the incident covered in our report on a US jet disabling a vessel in the Gulf of Oman. Yemeni government forces have also stepped up operations this year, as our report on operations that neutralised Houthi fighters records.
For the families of the 84 missing, the wait continues while the search goes on. Dawn’s report on the sinking is here.
FAQ
How many people were on the boat that capsized off Djibouti?
The IOM said 305 people were aboard. At least 139 died, around 84 are missing and around 82 survived. The survivors are all Ethiopian nationals.
Where exactly did the migrant boat capsize?
Survivors said the boat capsized near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock in Djibouti, during the night of October 8-9. It was sailing from Djibouti towards Yemen.
Why do migrants travel from Djibouti to Yemen?
Most are heading for work in the Gulf states and cross Yemen to get there. The IOM says drought, hard living conditions, conflict and forced recruitment drive many Ethiopians to attempt the Eastern Route.
