At least 139 migrants have died and 84 are missing after a boat carrying 305 people from Djibouti to Yemen capsized near the port town of Obock, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
About 82 people survived the sinking, which the IOM dated to the night of Oct. 8-9 based on survivor accounts. The dead include at least 15 children, according to the figures reported on Oct. 11, and the toll could still rise.
The boat went down near Guhere, north of Obock, according to a report by The Spokesman-Review. Djiboutian authorities are continuing search and rescue operations, treating survivors and arranging burials, the IOM said.
Earlier counts were lower. The IOM figure as of Oct. 10 was 109 dead and more than 116 missing, which means the numbers have shifted as bodies were recovered and survivors were counted. The UN News headline gives 139 dead and 84 missing, and the IOM headline gives 139 dead.
“Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance,” said Alexandre Coissac, the IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor,” Coissac said.
The IOM said migrants are still making the journey despite the violence in Yemen. Neither the Ethiopian nor the Djiboutian government had commented when the report was published, and the nationalities of those aboard were not given in the reporting we read.
The route from the Horn of Africa to the Gulf through Yemen is known as the Eastern Route. The IOM’s Missing Migrants Project recorded more than 900 migrants dead or missing on it in 2025, and the number of people making the crossing rose 18 per cent, according to the same report.
The IOM said fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen is the most serious escalation since the 2022 truce, with displacement rising to 200,000 from 76,000 in mid-September. More than 3,700 people have fled Yemen by sea to Djibouti, it said.
In Ethiopia, migrants cited drought, conflict and forced recruitment as reasons for leaving, according to the IOM. Fighting in Tigray erupted again on Sept. 23, the report said. We have reported separately on the dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
We found no statement from Global Affairs Canada or the Canadian government on the shipwreck, and no reporting of Canadians aboard. Canada is home to an Ethiopian diaspora community, but the reporting we read did not link the victims to any specific group.
The search for the 84 missing is continuing, and the IOM has not said when a final count will be available. The IOM called on governments to widen safe and legal migration routes in the same appeal.
Photo: File photo of boats on the water by Arstin Chen via Unsplash. It does not show the shipwreck, its victims or the location of the sinking.
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Via The Spokesman-Review, UN News and the IOM. We did not read the IOM statement directly because the page would not load; figures come from the reports linked above.
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