The death toll keeps climbing in northern Djibouti. The United Nations said on Sunday that at least 139 people, including 15 children, had lost their lives when a boat capsized during the night of October 8 to 9. By Sunday afternoon, 84 passengers were still unaccounted for.
According to survivors, the vessel was carrying migrants from Djibouti to Yemen when it overturned near Guhere, north of the town of Obock. How many people were on board remains unclear. On Saturday the International Organization for Migration (IOM) put the figure at 305, while the count released on Sunday refers to 350.
Only a day earlier, the official toll was considerably lower. On Saturday, the IOM reported at least 109 dead and more than 116 missing, already making it the deadliest shipwreck ever recorded off Djibouti. The first bodies recovered were those of 52 men, 42 women and 15 children, nine girls and six boys.
More than 80 people survived. All of them are Ethiopian nationals. Sixty-four are being housed at the migrant response centre the IOM runs in Obock, where they receive medical care, psychological support, temporary shelter and food, and where the agency is helping them reach their families.
Alexandre Coissac, head of the IOM mission in Djibouti, described the disaster as a devastating loss of life. He said his teams were working on the ground with local authorities to assist the victims, and stressed the serious dangers faced by those who take this corridor in search of work.
The route remains heavily used, and traffic has surged in recent weeks. The IOM has counted more than 20,000 arrivals from Ethiopia into Djibouti since September 10, and nearly 178,000 between January 1 and October 1, 2026. Most of these migrants hope to cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Yemen and then make their way to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Djibouti had already suffered a similar tragedy earlier this year. On March 24, a boat attempting the same crossing sank with more than 300 people on board; nine bodies were recovered and 45 people were reported missing. At the time, the IOM warned it might not be the last such disaster, as the hot season brings rougher seas and strong winds.
The search for the missing continues.