Off the coast of Djibouti, at least forty-five dead in the sinking of two immigrant boats

At least forty-five people died when two boats carrying migrants sank off the coast of Djibouti, the UN migration agency announced Tuesday. “The ships left Yemen with three hundred and ten people on board.”said the International Organization for Migration (IOM), adding that many passengers remain missing. Some thirty-two people were rescued, the IOM indicated on the X social network, specifying that the organization was participating in the relief efforts.

Every year, tens of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa use the “east road”crossing the Red Sea, in an attempt to reach the oil-rich Gulf countries, fleeing conflicts, natural disasters and poor economic prospects at home. In August, a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Yemen, killing thirteen people.

Migrants who manage to reach Yemen often face other threats to their safety in this poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, which has been mired in civil war for nearly a decade. Most are trying to reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries where they can work as day laborers or domestic workers.