Migrants forced overboard: 48 dead off Djibouti
Published: Wednesday, Oct 2nd 2024, 15:10
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According to the UN Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva, at least 48 refugees have died off the coast of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden. More than 100 are still missing.
Smugglers had forced people to jump into the water on the open sea and asked them to swim ashore, the IOM reported.
A total of 320 people were traveling on two boats. 99 reached the coast by swimming and 55 were rescued at sea. At least 48 people lost their lives, including a mother whose four-month-old baby survived. The others were still missing. The search operation was still ongoing in the afternoon.
According to survivors, the people wanted to return from Yemen to Djibouti, the IOM reported. People from Somalia and Eritrea in particular are on the route. They want to travel via Yemen to Saudi Arabia or the Gulf States in search of work or return to their home country from there.
According to the IOM, never before have so many migrants perished between Africa and Yemen as this year. In June alone, 196 people drowned there.
©Keystone/SDA
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