At least 109 migrants, including 15 children, died and more than 116 are missing after a boat bound for Yemen capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration said Sunday.
The vessel was carrying about 350 people from Djibouti to Yemen when it went down near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, survivors told the U.N. agency. More than 80 people survived, all of them Ethiopian nationals.
Djiboutian authorities are continuing search and rescue operations, the IOM said.
What We Know So Far
The IOM said the boat capsized during the night of Oct. 8, with Reuters and Agence France Presse reporting the timing as the night of Oct. 8 to 9. Among the 109 bodies recovered were 52 men, 42 women and 15 children, nine girls and six boys, the agency said.
The IOM is assisting 64 survivors at its Obock Migrant Response Center. A spokesperson for the Ethiopian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The crossing runs over the Bab el Mandeb Strait, a route thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa take each year in search of safety and work. Many hope to reach Gulf countries through Yemen, the IOM said.
Violence in Yemen has not deterred them, the agency said. Migrants there can face violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, exploitation and trafficking. Yemen is torn by fighting between the Saudi backed government and Iran backed Houthi rebels, who have joined the wider regional conflict involving the United States and its allies against Iran.
What Authorities Are Saying
“This is a devastating loss of life,” said Alexandre Coissac, the IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti. He said the agency’s thoughts are with survivors and with families who have lost relatives or remain without news of them.
Coissac said IOM teams are on the ground with local authorities providing emergency assistance. The tragedy, he said, is “a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants” on this corridor.
The IOM said poverty, insecurity and the growing effects of climate change drive many people to make the journey despite rising instability across the Middle East. It urged donors and partners to strengthen support for Djibouti’s response, including search and rescue.
IOM spokesman Kennedy Omondi Okoth told AFP this week that most of those attempting the crossing come from Ethiopia or Somalia, and that many end up stranded in Djibouti.
Differing Accounts
Outlets described the missing slightly differently. Sky News and Reuters reported “more than 116” missing, while Le Monde, citing AFP, reported “some 116.” The date was also given two ways: the night of Oct. 8 in the Sky News account and the night of Oct. 8 to 9 in Reuters and AFP. Sky News called the craft a ship, while Reuters and AFP called it a boat. The IOM statement had not been reconciled across the reports.
Why This Matters
The Eastern Route from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula is among the world’s busiest and deadliest migration paths. More than 900 migrants died or went missing along the sea route to Yemen in 2025, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, and the number attempting the journey rose 18%.
This is far deadlier than another recent wreck. A shipwreck in March left nine people dead and 45 missing, the IOM said.
Departures are not slowing. The IOM has detected more than 20,000 crossings into Djibouti from Ethiopia since Sept. 10. With war now reaching Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s coast, travelers are heading toward a country where fighting has escalated sharply.
What Happens Next
The search continues for those still missing, and fears are growing for their fate. The IOM is expected to update the toll as bodies are recovered and survivors are interviewed, and it has called for added funding for Djibouti’s response. Identification of the dead and the return of remains to families in Ethiopia could take time.
Reporting drawn from Sky News, Reuters and Le Monde, citing the International Organization for Migration and Agence France Presse.
