Children among 109 dead after migrant boat capsizes off Africa

At least 109 migrants, including 15 children, have died after a boat capsized while sailing from Djibouti to Yemen, a UN agency said on Sunday.The boat, which was carrying about 350 people, capsized near Guhere, north of Obock — a port town in Djibouti — during the evening of October 8, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said, citing survivor accounts.Among the 109 bodies recovered are 52 men, 42 women and 15 children, including nine girls and six boys. Djiboutian authorities are continuing search and rescue operations for the more than 116 who remain missing. More than 80 people survived the shipwreck, all Ethiopian nationals, the report said. IOM is assisting 64 survivors at its Obock Migrant Response Centre (MRC).A boat carrying refugees from Yemen in September (Reuters)“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,” Alexandre Coissac, IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, said in the statement.“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.”Each year, tens of thousands of migrants travel through Djibouti and cross the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Yemen, hoping to reach Gulf countries.In 2025, more than 900 migrants died or went missing along this route, according to IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.A spokesperson for the Ethiopian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.