Djibouti boat disaster: 109 dead, including 15 children, and 116 missing on the route to Yemen

At least 109 people, including 15 children, have died and more than 116 are missing after a boat carrying over 300 migrants capsized off Djibouti, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Sunday 11 October 2026, as Al Jazeera reported. More than 80 people survived, all of them Ethiopian. The BBC also reported the toll.

What happened

• Where: near Guhere, on Djibouti's eastern coast, facing the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab strait, the narrow sea lane between the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
• When: the boat went down between Thursday night and the hours before dawn on Friday, the IOM said.
• Where it was going: from Djibouti towards Yemen, the first leg of the route many Ethiopians take hoping to reach work in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
• Rescue: Djibouti's search and rescue teams were still looking for the missing on Sunday. "Our teams are on the ground alongside local authorities to provide emergency assistance," said Alexandre Coissac, IOM's chief of mission in Djibouti.

The numbers behind the route

At its narrowest the Bab al-Mandab is only about 20 km wide, which is why smugglers use it. The IOM has recorded more than 20,000 movements from Ethiopia into Djibouti since 10 September alone. Last year more than 500,000 people tried this so-called Eastern Route into Yemen, and at least 900 died or went missing on it, according to the agency.

People are still making the crossing even though Yemen's war has flared again. Fighting between government forces and the Houthis resumed last month, and the Houthis have been firing on Saudi Arabia, including Saturday's strike on Riyadh airport. Several thousand people have also fled the other way, from Yemen into Djibouti.

Why it matters here

The same Gulf labour market that draws Ethiopians across the Bab al-Mandab employs millions of Pakistanis, who mostly travel on regular visas. Pakistan has its own deadly smuggling routes, through Iran and Turkey and by sea from Libya to Europe. The Bureau of Emigration says anyone going abroad for work should use a licensed overseas employment promoter and register the job before leaving. Families sending money home can check today's rate on our riyal to rupee page.

We will update the toll as the IOM and Djibouti authorities report it.