Djibouti Shipwreck Death Toll Climbs to 139 as 30 More Bodies Are Recovered

At least 139 people are now confirmed dead after a migrant boat capsized off the northern coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday. Earlier the same day the UN agency had put the toll at 109. The number rose after search teams recovered 30 more bodies, and 84 people are still unaccounted for.

That toll makes it one of the deadliest shipwrecks the agency has recorded on the so-called Eastern Route, the sea crossing that links the Horn of Africa with Yemen and the Gulf.

What happened

The IOM said, citing survivor accounts, that the boat was carrying about 305 people from Djibouti towards Yemen. It overturned near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, during the night of October 8 into October 9. Some early reports put the number on board as high as 350, but the IOM's figure is 305.

The first 109 bodies recovered were 52 men, 42 women and 15 children: nine girls and six boys. More than 80 people survived, and the agency said every one of them is an Ethiopian national. The IOM is caring for survivors at its Migrant Response Centre in Obock. Djiboutian authorities are still searching the coastline and are also giving medical care and arranging burials.

Alexandre Coissac, the IOM's chief of mission in Djibouti, called the shipwreck a devastating loss of life. He said agency teams were working alongside local authorities and that the disaster showed the dangers migrants face on this corridor in search of work.

A route under new pressure

Tens of thousands of people from Ethiopia, Somalia and neighbouring countries travel through Djibouti every year. They cross the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Yemen, where most hope to continue overland to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The IOM says poverty, insecurity and climate stress drive the journey, even though the crossing is dangerous and Yemen is unstable. In 2025, more than 900 migrants died or went missing on the route.

The timing makes this disaster especially worrying. Fighting has flared again in Ethiopia's Tigray region, nearly four years after a peace deal ended a two-year civil war there. The IOM's displacement tracking shows more than 20,000 movements from Ethiopia into Djibouti since September 10. That suggests more people may be pushed onto smuggling boats in the coming weeks.

The destination is also more dangerous than before. Government forces and Houthi rebels have been fighting along Yemen's Red Sea coast since early September, and the conflict has spread across the region, including recent Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. Even so, migrants keep coming. The IOM also counted more than 3,700 people crossing the other way, from Yemen into Djibouti, to escape the violence.

Why it matters beyond the region

The Bab el-Mandeb is one of the world's busiest shipping chokepoints. Instability on both of its shores affects global trade, insurance costs and energy flows, including cargo moving between Asia and Europe. The humanitarian toll along the strait is often overlooked next to these strategic concerns. Aid agencies have repeatedly said that without safe, legal migration options and more support for countries of origin, deadly crossings like this one will keep happening.

Search and rescue work is continuing, and officials have cautioned that the number of dead could rise further as more of the missing are found.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.