139 migrants dead, 84 missing in Djibouti boat wreck – Daily Trust

At least 139 migrants died, together with 15 kids, and 84 went missing when an overcrowded boat sank whereas heading from Djibouti to Yemen, a UN company stated Sunday.
The vessel was carrying 305 folks, most of them Ethiopian, when it capsized north of the Djibouti city of Obock on the night time of October 8-9, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) stated in an announcement.
“Survivors told me that the boat started to sink backwards as soon as they got in it,” Alexandre Coissac, IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, advised AFP.
“This is a devastating loss of life,” he stated earlier in the assertion.
“Our thoughts are with the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones or remain without news of their relatives.”
The IOM gave an preliminary toll of 109 useless and 116 missing, and revised it to 139 useless and 84 missing in a later assertion after extra our bodies have been recovered.
Coissac stated IOM groups have been on the bottom alongside Djiboutian authorities to supply emergency help.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities” by making an attempt to cross the Bab al-Mandeb Strait to Yemen after which attain Gulf nations, he stated.
Coissac stated he had spoken to at least one survivor of the wreck who got here from the Tigray area of northern Ethiopia, the place rebels are battling the federal authorities in a current flare-up of violence.
Among the 109 our bodies earlier recovered have been 52 males, 42 girls and 15 kids – 9 ladies and 6 boys – the preliminary assertion stated.
Eighty-two folks survived the shipwreck, all Ethiopian nationals, in response to the up to date toll.
“Poverty, insecurity and the growing impacts of climate change drive many to undertake this journey, despite mounting instability across the Middle East,” the IOM stated.