PH
The UN reported Tuesday that the dead of 38 migrants, including children, were retrieved following a shipwreck off the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, the latest calamity on the so-called Eastern migration route.
According to the International Organisation for Migration, the boat was carrying 66 passengers when it sank early Monday morning.
The tragedy occurred just 200 metres (yards) off the shore of Godoria, northeast of Djibouti, according to the agency’s email to AFP.
“There have been thirty-eight bodies recovered. According to IOM regional spokesperson Yvonne Ngede, 22 survivors are receiving assistance from IOM and local authorities.
She stated passengers on the boat included women, children, and babies, with the majority of them believed to be Ethiopian nationals.
The IOM stated at least six more individuals were missing and feared dead after the “tragic shipwreck” in a post on X, accompanied by a photo of white body bags lined out on a beach.
The Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti reported that the disaster involved a boat carrying approximately 60 Ethiopian migrants from Djibouti to war-torn Yemen.
Every year, tens of thousands of African migrants use the treacherous “Eastern Route” over the Red Sea and across war-torn Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, fleeing conflict, natural disasters, or seeking better economic possibilities.
“On their journeys, many face life-threatening dangers including starvation, health risks and exploitation -– at the hands of human traffickers and other criminals,” the IOM said in a statement in February.
‘Putting themselves in grave danger’
Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, has been plagued by numerous conflicts, and several parts have experienced severe drought in recent years.
More than 15% of its 120 million residents need on food help.
According to the Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti, 189 of its residents have died in boat accidents during the last five years.
“Our citizens are putting themselves and their families in grave danger,” the U.S. Embassy stated.
People should not be “deceived” by human traffickers, it stated, urging the judiciary to take action against them.
According to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project, at least 698 people, including women and children, died crossing the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti to Yemen last year.
“This number could be higher considering some tragedies often go unnoticed,” according to the report.
In November 2023, a shipwreck off the coast of Yemen left 64 migrants missing and feared dead at sea, according to the agency.
According to Ngede, the majority of migrants on the Eastern Route are from Ethiopia and Somalia seeking to reach Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia.
“Many of them make it to the border with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but do not cross. Thousands are stuck in Yemen.”
Human Rights Watch accused Saudi border guards of killing “at least hundreds” of Ethiopians attempting to cross from Yemen between March 2022 and June 2023, using explosive weapons in several cases.
Riyadh criticized the group’s findings as “unfounded and not based on reliable sources”.
In its study, HRW cited evidence from migrants who claimed Huthi forces collaborated with people smugglers and would “extort” them or put them in detention centers where they were “abused” until they paid a “exit fee” and crossed the border.
