At least 139 migrants dead, dozens missing after boat capsizes off Djibouti

At least 139 migrants died, including 15 children, and 84 went missing when an overcrowded boat sank while heading from Djibouti to Yemen, a UN agency said on Sunday.

The vessel was carrying 305 people, most of them Ethiopian, when it capsized north of the Djibouti town of Obock on the night of October 8-9, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.

“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.