UPDATE: Twenty One Dead, 23 Missing After Boat Capsizes off Djibouti Coast – UN Officials

GOOBJOOG NEWS | DJIBOUTI: Twenty one migrants have died and another 23 missing after a boat carrying 77 people capsized at the coast of Djibouti Tuesday.

According to International Organization for Migration (IOM), the occupant’s boat which is the second to be involved in such incident two weeks involved children.

Tens of thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa, especially from Ethiopia and Somalia, leave the continent through Djibouti, aiming to reach Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations to find work, according to IOM.

Many fail, and thousands are stranded in Yemen where they live in harsh conditions, IOM says. Drownings are common in the waters off Djibouti as the migrants make their journeys.

Tanja Pacifico, the head of its Djiboutian office, said Tuesday’s death toll had risen from an earlier figure of 16 IOM had given.

Another 33 people were rescued from the water, she said, adding that they and all the dead were Ethiopians.

“What is exceptional is that is we had another shipwreck with 38 Ethiopian nationals just less than two weeks ago,” Pacifico said.

At least 38 people, including children, died in that shipwreck off the Djibouti coast.

She said Tuesday’s capsized boat was sailing to Djibouti from Yemen.

“These numbers have been increasing over the past few months,” Pacifico said

Additional reporting by Reuters