At least 21 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Djibouti, according to a provisional report from the UN

At least 21 migrants, including children, died and 23 others are missing when their boat sank off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced on Tuesday April 23. “Search and rescue operations by local authorities and IOM are ongoing”added this UN organization on X. In total, 77 people were on board the boat.

The boat was en route to the Djiboutian coast after leaving Yemen on Monday. The Ethiopian ambassador to Djibouti, Berhanu Tsegaye, affirmed on X that the boat was transporting Ethiopians. This is the second shipwreck reported by the IOM off the coast of Djibouti in a few weeks, after another on April 8 in which at least 38 migrants, including children, died according to the IOM.

There “eastern road”used by migrants coming from the Horn of Africa to reach Saudi Arabia via war-torn Yemen, is considered by the IOM to be “one of the most dangerous and complex migration routes in Africa and the world“. On April 8, the IOM estimated that at least 698 people had died along the “eastern road” in 2023. But “this figure could be higher because some tragedies often go unnoticed”added the UN agency.