139 migrants killed as boat capsizes off Djibouti

The death toll from a migrant boat capsizing off Djibouti’s coast has risen to 139, with 84 people still missing, The boat capsized en route from Djibouti to Yemen, leaving about 82 survivors as search operations continue. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said that 139 people, including 15 children, have died after an overcrowded boat carrying 305 migrants capsized near Guhere, north of Obock, off the coast of Djibouti in East Africa. The IOM reported that the vessel sank close to the shore shortly after departing on Thursday night. The official death toll stands at 139. However, IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, Alexandre Coissac, clarified that the figure includes only those whose bodies were buried by local authorities, while other victims were buried directly by migrants. 84 people remain missing as search-and-rescue operations continue, and the agency has warned that the death toll could rise. 
More than 80 survivors, all Ethiopian nationals, were rescued. Local authorities moved them to the IOM Rescue Centre in Obock, where they are receiving psychological support and medical care. The boat was travelling across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Djibouti to Yemen. This route is part of a popular but highly dangerous migration corridor used by tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa seeking work and safety in Gulf countries. According to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, more than 900 migrants died or went missing along this route last year alone.