Toll in Djibouti boat sinking rises to 139 dead

NAIROBI: The death toll from a boat sinking off Djibouti has risen to 139, with 30 more bodies found, a UN agency said on Sunday. Some 84 people remain missing from the sinking, which occurred on the night of October 8-9 as the overcrowded vessel was headed from Djibouti to Yemen, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. Survivors said the vessel — which was carrying 305 people from Djibouti to Yemen — capsized north of the Djibouti town of Obock, according to a statement from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
'Survivors told me that the boat started to sink backwards as soon as they got in it,' Alexandre Coissac, IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, said. 'This is a devastating loss of life,' he said earlier in the statement. 'Our thoughts are with the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones or remain without news of their relatives.'
Coissac said IOM teams were on the ground alongside Djiboutian authorities to provide emergency aid. 'This tragedy is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by migrants along this migration corridor as they seek economic opportunities' by trying to cross the Bab Al Mandeb Strait to Yemen and then reach Gulf countries. — AFP