The search for 17 individuals suspected to be missing after being compelled by smugglers to swim in the open sea off the coast of Djibouti, as reported by the UN’s migration agency, has begun.
The incident occurred at night and involved two vessels transporting 320 individuals from Yemen, which is known as a dangerous route for migrants from Africa.
According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), with 48 deaths confirmed, this incident marks the second deadliest tragedy on this route this year. Additionally, it has made 2024 the deadliest year on record.
Yemeni boat operators forced the migrants “to disembark in the open sea and swim,” the UN agency said, citing survivors.
On a single vessel carrying 100 passengers, a mother with a four-month-old baby drowned, as reported by IOM, although the infant survived. The Djibouti Coast Guard was in charge of the search.
Every year, tens of thousands of migrants take the perilous Eastern Route from the Horn of Africa, aiming to flee from conflict, natural disasters, and poor economic opportunities by crossing the Red Sea towards the oil-rich Gulf.
Many aspire to find work as labourers or domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries despite the hazardous journey through war-torn Yemen.
According to IOM’s statement to AFP, the migrants involved in Tuesday’s tragedy were Ethiopians returning from Yemen.
In total, the organisation has documented at least 1,300 migrant fatalities on the Eastern Route since 2014 and 337 between January and August 2024.
IOM’s data revealed that 196 individuals lost their lives on the route in June, while at least 13 people perished when their boat overturned off the Yemeni coast in August.
The IOM calls the Eastern Route “one of the busiest, most complex, and most dangerous migration routes in the world.”