Dozens of people died and dozens of others were missing after smugglers forced them off two boats near the coast of Djibouti, making 2024 the deadliest year for migrants crossing between Africa and Yemen, the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday.
The boats were traveling from Yemen to Djibouti on Tuesday, one carrying 100 migrants and the other 220 migrants, when the vessels’ Yemeni operators ordered those onboard to leave the boats in the open sea and swim, the organization said in a statement.
There were at least 197 survivors, the organization added, but at least 48 others died and 75 were still missing.
“Hundreds have lost their lives this year,” Frantz Celestin, the organization's regional director for East and Southern Africa, said in a statement. From January to August of this year, the organization’s Missing Migrants Project recorded 337 drowning deaths along the route, and the I.O.M. said on Wednesday that the latest death toll now made 2024 the deadliest year for migrant sea crossings between Africa and Yemen.
The Djibouti Coast Guard posted on social media late Tuesday that search operations were “relentlessly” underway for the missing.
Although the two migrant ships were traveling from Yemen to Djibouti, many more African migrants travel in the opposite direction — largely heading for Saudi Arabia — in search of better lives.
The Horn of Africa, from where many are fleeing, is facing one of the worst droughts in decades, and millions there are experiencing acute hunger, the World Health Organization said in July. Many migrants on the route are from Ethiopia and Somalia, the International Organization for Migration said.
Even if they survive the boat voyage, migrants can face hostilities on land. Last year, Human Rights Watch said that Saudi Arabian border guards had regularly opened fire on Africans trying to cross into the kingdom from Yemen.
Those who traverse the migration route do so under “extremely difficult conditions and face various forms of violencec9taya, exploitation and abuse,” the International Organization for Migration said. “This underscores the urgent need for robust measures to protect migrants and prevent future loss of life.”