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Scores of people die in migrant boat tragedy off Horn of Africa
A migrant boat attempting to cross the Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, and Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula, leaves more than 130 dead and over 80 people still missing,
Vatican News
At least 139 people, including children, have died after a boat carrying more than 300 migrants capsized off the coast of Djibouti.
The boat, which set off from Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, was on its way to Yemen when it capsized in the early hours of Friday. About 82 people survived.
Reporting the shipwreck on Sunday, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) described the shipwreck as one of the deadliest recorded on the Eastern Route, which runs from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
The IOM specified that the number of those who drowned only includes those buried by authorities in Djibouti. Others have been buried by the migrants themselves but they won’t be added to the official count until authorities can verify the bodies.
IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, Alexandre Coissac, told AP news agency that the victims were buried with no names, in a common grave, like in a war situation.
“They all have a mother, a father, and we may never learn what happened.” Coissac said, explaining that the ship sank soon after departure, close to shore, “mainly because it was overcrowded.”
At least 84 people remain missing, and the death toll is expected to rise.
Tens of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa travel through Djibouti and across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait every year toward Gulf countries in search of safety and economic opportunities.
Meanwhile, travelling in the opposite direction, in recent weeks, at least 2,000 Yemenis have received aid in Djibouti as the fighting has escalated in Yemen between the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government and Iranian-backed Houthi rebels..
IOM Director -General Amy Pope mourned the tragedy, noting that “No one gets into a boat like that unless they believe there is no other safe way.” Recalling that over 900 migrants died or went missing along the route last year, she appealed to governments and donors “to act before the next boat goes down.”
(Source AP and IOM)
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