Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 08:00 am
A boat carrying migrants capsizes in Djibouti, killing more than 40 people. The death toll from a boat accident in the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti has risen to 42, she said. The International Organization for Migration on Tuesday, with the second disaster in less than a month.
Sixteen children were among the dead, spokeswoman Yvonne Ndege said, adding that 14 people had survived. “The smugglers have not been found yet,” she said.
The boat, which was being held by smugglers, is believed to be carrying 60 passengers, the IOM said on its Twitter account, without providing further details as to when the incident took place. Djibouti’s seas have become commonplace outside of Djibouti, and are typically involved with migrants from Ethiopia or Somalia trying to escape poverty and conflict at home by finding work in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates.
According to reports, the boat was to be chased by coastguards and there were, apparently, large waves, bad weather, “she explained, stressing that the survivors had caused the boat to capsize.
It includes migrants stranded in Yemen after failing to cross into Saudi Arabia, sometimes due to restrictions on coronavirus, and drowning in the return route. It follows a similar incident on March 4th when 20 people drowned after smugglers threw dozens of migrants into the sea during a voyage between Djibouti and Yemen.
At least 200 migrants were loaded onto the ship as it left Djibouti. But about 30 minutes into the journey, the smugglers panicked and threw 80 people into the sea before returning to land.
Two similar incidents in October claimed the lives of at least 50 migrants. Thousands of migrants are believed to be stranded in Yemen, where decades of war has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions in what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
