A small white tugboat tied up at a pier in Obock harbor, with the town visible across the water.

At Least 109 Migrants Die as Yemen-Bound Boat Capsizes Off Djibouti, IOM Says; All Survivors Are Ethiopian

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A small white tugboat tied up at a pier in Obock harbor, with the town visible across the water.

A small tugboat at the pier in Obock, Djibouti, in July 2008. The International Organization for Migration says the migrant boat capsized near Guhere, north of the town, on the night of Oct. 8 to 9, 2026. (Photo: MC1 Robert Ressler / U.S. Navy, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain) [file photo]

At least 109 people, among them 15 children, died when a boat carrying migrants from Djibouti toward Yemen capsized near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock, during the night of Oct. 8 to 9, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday. More than 116 others are still missing. IOM said more than 80 people survived, and that all of them are Ethiopian nationals.

The UN agency called it the deadliest shipwreck off Djibouti. It said the bodies recovered so far are those of 52 men, 42 women and 15 children, nine girls and six boys. IOM put the number of people on board at 305. AFP and TRT World reported that survivors put the number at 350. IOM did not say in its statement which countries the dead came from, BBC Amharic noted.

“This is a devastating loss of life. Our thoughts are with the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones or remain without news of their relatives,” said Alexandre Coissac, IOM’s chief of mission in Djibouti. “Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance. This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities.”

IOM said it is caring for 64 of the survivors at its Migrant Response Centre in Obock, where they are getting medical care, psychological support, shelter, food and help reaching their families. Djiboutian authorities are still searching the sea for the missing and are arranging burials for the dead, the agency said, adding that fears are growing for those who have not been found.

Reuters asked the Ethiopian Government’s spokesperson and the authorities in Djibouti for comment, BBC Amharic reported. As of 9:45 AM ET on Sunday, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not posted about the shipwreck on its X account. Its most recent activity, on Sunday morning, was reposting the Prime Minister’s Office’s announcements of new appointments.

Each year tens of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa pass through Djibouti and cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Yemen, hoping to reach the Gulf states for work and a safer life. IOM said poverty, insecurity and the growing effects of climate change push many to make the trip. Its Missing Migrants Project counted more than 900 people dead or missing along this route in 2025, a year in which the number of people attempting the journey rose by 18 percent. Another wreck in March of this year left nine people dead and 45 missing. IOM said its Displacement Tracking Matrix has recorded more than 20,000 incoming movements into Djibouti from Ethiopia since Sept. 10.

Yemen is itself at war. Its government forces, which are backed by Saudi Arabia, are fighting the Houthi movement for control of high ground on the Red Sea coast, The Guardian reported, and Djibouti’s refugee and disaster office, ONARS, says the violence has driven more than 3,800 people across the water into Djibouti. BBC Amharic, citing IOM, reported that the number of people displaced inside Yemen has risen from 76,000 to 200,000 since mid-September. IOM warned that migrants who reach Yemen face violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, exploitation and trafficking, and that “surviving the sea crossing does not necessarily mean reaching safety.” BBC Amharic also noted concerns that the renewed war in northern Ethiopia could spread across the region.

IOM urged donors to put more money into Djibouti’s response, including search and rescue, and called for more safe and legal ways to migrate so that fewer people risk the crossing.

On X, BBC Africa journalist Ameyu Etana (@ameyuetana) wrote, “This is sad news,” and added that “in the past four weeks alone, 20,000 Ethiopian migrants crossed to Djibouti,” while IOM’s own figure is more than 20,000 incoming movements from Ethiopia since Sept. 10. Getachew Temare (@getachew_temare), who describes himself as a lawyer and human rights defender, called it “a very grim news.” A user posting as Dagnachew (@Harmuema) wrote that “@MFAEthiopia not yet reacted to tragedy.” Ethiopia Observer (@Ethiobserver) posted in Amharic: “በጅቡቲ የባህር ዳርቻ ጀልባ ሰጥማ 109 ሰዎች ሲሞቱ 116 ሰዎች ጠፍተዋል ተባለ” (“A boat sank off the coast of Djibouti, and 109 people died and 116 are missing, it was reported”). In Arabic, a user posting as aboosama (@Aboosama967) called it “كارثة إنسانية في البحر بين جيبوتي واليمن” (“a humanitarian catastrophe at sea between Djibouti and Yemen”), and the Bahraini daily Al-Watan (@Alwatan_Live) headlined its post “جميعهم يحملون الجنسية الإثيوبية” (“All of them hold Ethiopian nationality”), though IOM has said that only of the survivors.

Sources