AGENCIES

Nine migrants were killed and 45 were missing after a boat sank off the coast of Djibouti this week, the UN’s migration agency said yesterday.

Tens of thousands of migrants use the “Eastern Route” from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula each year in search of work as labourers or domestic workers in wealthy Gulf countries. Last year was the deadliest on record along the route with the International Organisation for Migration recording 922 deaths, double the number for 2024, reports Reuters,

“A tragic shipwreck occurred during the night of March 24 off the coast of Djibouti, north of Obock: 9 dead, 45 missing, out of 320 passengers,” the IOM said on X.

Most migrants on the route come from Ethiopia, driven by poverty and internal conflict, and cross the Red Sea at the shortest point from Djibouti to Yemen, reports AFP.

Almost 8,000 people died or went missing last year on perilous migration routes such as across the Mediterranean and Horn of Africa, but the real toll is likely far higher, IOM said.

Legal pathways for migration are shrinking, pushing more people into the hands of smugglers, it said.

Although deaths along migration routes fell to 7,667 in 2025 from nearly 9,200 in 2024 as fewer people attempted dangerous irregular journeys — particularly across the Americas — the decline reflects shrinking access to information and funding shortfalls that have hampered efforts to track fatalities, the IOM said.