At Least 20 Dead After Smugglers Force Migrants into the Sea Off Djibouti

Fishing boats such as this one abandoned outside Obock, Djibouti, are used to smuggle tens of thousands of migrants annually across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen where they continue their journey to Gulf countries in search of work. Photo: IOM/2018

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that at least 20 people have drowned after smugglers threw dozens of migrants overboard early yesterday during their journey from Djibouti to Yemen, the third such incident on the Gulf of Aden in six months. Survivors receiving medical treatment at the IOM Migrant Response Centre in Obock said at least 200 migrants including children were crowded aboard the vessel when it departed. Thirty minutes into the journey the smugglers forced roughly 80 people into the sea. Five bodies were recovered yesterday.

KJ