The International Organization for Migration claimed that at least 45 bodies have been found from the event on Tuesday, making 2024 the deadliest year ever for maritime crossings on the route used by migrants to go between East Africa and Yemen.
IOM added in a statement that an additional 154 individuals had been saved from the two boats, which had 310 passengers when they departed Yemen for Djibouti. The statement read, “The Djiboutian Coast Guard is conducting ongoing search and rescue operations to locate the missing migrants.”
The “Eastern Route,” which the IOM refers to as one of the busiest and riskiest migration pathways in the world, is used by hundreds of thousands of people each year to flee the Horn of Africa in search of better economic opportunities in Gulf countries.
