UN: 16 Dead, 28 Missing After Migrant Boat Capsize Off Africa’s Djibouti

The UN’s International Organization for Migration stated Tuesday that a new migrant boat accident off the coast of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa has killed at least 16 people and left 28 missing.

The catastrophe occurred approximately two weeks after another boat carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants sank off the Djibouti coast, killing several dozen people.

International Organization for Migration tweeted, “Tragedy as boat capsizes off Djibouti coast with 77 migrants on board including children”, through its official ‘X’ handle.

“At least 28 missing. 16 dead”, IOM continued, adding that the local IOM branch was assisting local authorities with the search and rescue effort.

It was the latest fatal accident along the so-called Eastern Migration Route.

According to the IOM and the Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti, another boat carrying around 60 passengers sank off the coast of Godoria, northeast of Djibouti, on April 8.

At the time, the IOM reported that the bodies of 38 migrants, including children, had been recovered, with another six people still missing.

The embassy in Djibouti stated that the boat was transporting Ethiopian migrants from Djibouti to war-torn Yemen.

Every year, tens of thousands of African migrants take the treacherous Eastern Route over the Red Sea and across war-torn Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, fleeing violence or natural disasters or looking for better economic possibilities.

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