NAIROBI (AFP): The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has informed that at least 20 migrants lost their lives after smugglers threw them into the sea during a voyage from Djibouti in East Africa to Yemen.
According to a statement, at least 200 migrants, including children, were aboard the vessel when it left Oulebi in Djibouti in the early hours of Wednesday for Yemen, survivors told the IOM.
“Survivors believe at least 20 people have been killed. Five bodies have been recovered, while survivors are being treated in Djibouti,” Yvonne Ndege, IOM regional spokesperson for the East and Horn of Africa, told an international news agency.
The survivors have informed that about thirty minutes into the voyage across the Gulf of Aden the smugglers panicked, throwing around 80 people overboard before turning the vessel back toward Djibouti.
“Of the 80 people who were forced off, only 60 made it back to shore,” IOM regional spokesperson said. Two similar incidents in the Gulf of Aden in October claimed the lives of at least 50 migrants, the IOM said.
The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting closed borders have slowed but not stopped the flow of migrants. The IOM said about 138,000 people made the journey in 2019 but just 37,500 in 2020.
It is not immediately clear what countries the migrants in this latest journey were from, but many make the voyage from Ethiopia and Somalia.
