At least 139 people, including children, have died after a boat carrying more than 300 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti in East Africa, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Sunday.
The death toll includes only those buried by Djiboutian authorities. Other victims have been buried by fellow migrants, but their bodies will not be included in the official count until authorities can verify them, Alexandre Coissac, IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, told The Associated Press by phone.
“What is terrible is that they were buried with no names, in a common grave, like in a war situation,” Coissac said. “They all have a mother, a father, and we may never learn what happened.”
Coissac said the migrants boarded the boat on the evening of Oct 8 and that it sank shortly afterwards near the shore, mainly because it was overcrowded.
“The local authorities did their best,” he said, adding that they were overwhelmed as bodies continued to wash ashore in large numbers.
Authorities were taking survivors to the IOM rescue centre in Obock, where they were receiving medical treatment after swallowing seawater, along with psychological support, Coissac said.
“They’re all in a state of shock,” he said, recalling his visit to the shipwreck area on Saturday. “I tried to talk to some of them but it’s very difficult.”
Some survivors at the IOM centre already know that their family members died in the shipwreck. Others were given access to phones to inform relatives back home that they had survived.
At least 84 people remained missing in what was among the deadliest shipwrecks on the popular but perilous migration route from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, where many migrants seek employment in wealthy Gulf countries.
According to the IOM, the boat was travelling from Djibouti to Yemen when it capsized on Thursday night or Friday morning. More than 80 people survived, all of them Ethiopian nationals, the agency said.
The Geneva-based UN migration agency said 305 people were aboard the vessel and warned that the death toll could rise further.
Personal belongings believed to have belonged to the migrants, including shoes, were seen on a beach in a video shared by the IOM. Rescue operations continued as concerns mounted over those still missing.
Tens of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa travel through Djibouti each year and cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait towards Gulf countries in search of safety and economic opportunities, the IOM said in a statement.
The migration route remains in use despite a recent escalation in fighting in Yemen, on the opposite side of the strait.
“This is a devastating loss of life,” Coissac said. “This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities.”
In recent weeks, at least 2,000 Yemenis have received assistance in Djibouti as fighting has intensified in Yemen between the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
This movement is in the opposite direction to that of the migrants who died in the shipwreck and differs from the usual migration pattern of recent years. Tens of thousands of people crossing from eastern Africa to Yemen each year have typically been seeking work in countries such as Saudi Arabia.
More than 900 migrants died or went missing along the route last year, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, reports UNB.
“No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way,” IOM Director-General Amy Pope said. “We cannot keep treating these deaths as normal. Safe and legal pathways save lives. I am asking governments and donors to act before the next boat goes down.”