Coastguard warns death toll will rise, as UN reveals six migrants die at sea each day

This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Scores of people are feared to have drowned off the coast of Djibouti after two migrant boats capsized, amid new warnings from the UN that six people a day die on maritime smuggling routes to Europe and elsewhere.

According to the International Organization for Migration, the alarm was raised over the latest incident after two survivors were recovered. As the search for more survivors continued, the IOM said on Wednesday that 38 people had been confirmed dead.

Hopeful of finding work in rich Gulf countries, thousands of people from the Horn of Africa region set off every year from Djibouti to cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait for the Arabian Peninsula.

“This tragic event demonstrates the risks that vulnerable migrants face as they innocently search for better lives,” said Lalini Veerassamy, the IOM chief of mission in Djibouti.

According to local witnesses, the missing people were loaded into two overfilled boats that capsized about 30 minutes after setting sail.

According to the IOM, an 18-year old survivor said he had boarded the first boat with 130 people on it. The teenager said he did not have any information about the fate of the second boat.

The latest incident took place as the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, issued a new report detailing the alarming death toll in the Mediterranean last year.

According to the agency, six lives were lost on average every day as an estimated 2,275 people died or went missing crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, despite a major drop in the number of arrivals reaching European shores.

In total, 139,300 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe, the lowest number in five years.

“Saving lives at sea is not a choice, nor a matter of politics, but an age-old obligation,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees. “We can put an end to these tragedies by having the courage and vision to look beyond the next boat, and adopt a long-term approach based on regional cooperation, that places human life and dignity at its core.”

The report describes how shifts in policy by some European states have led to numerous incidents where large numbers of people were left stranded at sea for days on end, waiting for permission to dock. NGO boats and their crews faced growing restrictions on their search and rescue operations.

On routes from Libya to Europe, one person died at sea for every 14 who arrived in Europe – a sharp rise on 2017 levels. Thousands more were returned to Libya, where they faced appalling conditions inside detention centres.

The report also reveals significant changes in the routes being used by refugees and migrants.

Sharp rise in proportion of migrants dying in Mediterranean, says UN Read more

For the first time in recent years, Spain became the primary entry point to Europe as roughly 6,800 people arrived by land (through the enclaves in Ceuta and Melilla) and a further 58,600 people successfully crossed over the perilous western Mediterranean. As a result, the death toll for the western Mediterranean nearly quadrupled, from 202 in 2017 to 777 last year.

An estimated 23,400 refugees and migrants arrived in Italy in 2018, a fivefold decrease compared with the previous year. Greece received a similar number of sea arrivals, about 32,500 compared with 30,000 in 2017, but experienced a near threefold increase in the number of people arriving via its land border with Turkey.

Elsewhere in Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded an estimated 24,000 arrivals as refugees and migrants transited through the western Balkans. Cyprus received several boats carrying Syrian refugees from Lebanon, while small numbers crossed from France to the UK towards the end of the year.</s>JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The U.N. migration agency says 28 bodies have been found after some 130 migrants went missing off Djibouti when two boats capsized.

A statement says the coast guard in the tiny East African nation continues a search and rescue operation after Tuesday's accident. Witnesses said large waves caused the overloaded boats to tip over about a half-hour after departing.

The migration agency has said its team found an 18-year-old survivor who reportedly boarded a boat with another 130 people, including 16 women. There were no immediate details on the second boat.

Thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa region set off every year from Djibouti to cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait for the Arabian Peninsula with hopes of finding work in rich Gulf countries.

Most of them are Ethiopian.

Rescuers search for survivors on the beach after two boats carrying migrants capsized off the shore near Godoria, in northeast Djibouti Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. More than 130 migrants were thought to be missing after the two boats capsized Tuesday off the East African nation of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration said. (International Organization for Migration via AP)</s>More than 100 migrants are believed missing and 38 confirmed dead off the coast of Djibouti after two boats capsized, the U.N. migration agency said on Wednesday.

The overcrowded boats, carrying mostly Ethiopians, had set sail on rough seas when they capsized shortly after departing Djibouti, said Lalini Veerassamy, chief of mission in Djibouti for the International Organization for Migration.

Djibouti’s coastguard is continuing its search for survivors, she said, adding that beyond the IMO’s rough estimate it was not clear how many more migrants might be missing.

Many thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa region board boats from Djibouti each year, hoping to cross to the Arabian Peninsula in search of work.</s>Nairobi - At least 43 migrants have drowned after two boats capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday. The UN organization had previously counted only 28 recovered bodies.

"We are expecting the death toll to be much higher than that," IOM spokesman Joel Millman told dpa.

More than 130 migrants were on the boats when they overturned on Tuesday off Godoria, in the north-east of the small Horn of Africa nation, according to the IOM.

Millman said the two boats that set off from the port of Obock were probably carrying mostly Ethiopians and were likely headed to Yemen.

Djibouti has become a major migration route, and thousands of irregular migrants use it as both a country of destination and transit on their journey to the Arabian Peninsula, according to the IOM.

More than 700 migrants have died in the past five years during boat journeys from the Horn of African to Yemen, according to the UN organization.</s>JOHANNESBURG — More than 100 migrants were missing off Djibouti on Wednesday after two boats capsized, killing at least 28 people, the United Nations migration agency said in a statement.

Witnesses said large waves had caused the overloaded boats to tip over about a half-hour after they departed on Tuesday. The United Nations agency, the International Organization for Migration, said its team had found an 18-year-old survivor who reportedly boarded a boat with 130 people, including 16 women. No details were immediately available about the second boat, but a search-and-rescue operation was said to be underway.

Thousands of migrants from the Horn of Africa region, most of them from Ethiopia, set off every year from Djibouti to cross the Bab al-Mandab Strait for the Arabian Peninsula with hopes of finding work in rich Gulf countries.</s>More than 130 migrants went missing on Tuesday morning off the coast of Djibouti after two boats capsized, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said.The tragedy occurred off Godoria, a locality in the Obock region of northeast Djibouti.

After being alerted by local residents, a team of gendarmerie mobilized on Tuesday afternoon near the reported site of the sinkings and discovered two survivors and the bodies of three women and two men.

The coast guard was also alerted and launched search and rescue operations.

According to local witnesses the boats capsized roughly 30 minutes after leaving due to overloading and heavy tide.

An IOM team is assisting local officials in the search for survivors.

IOM staff have discovered an 18-year old male survivor, who reportedly boarded the first boat with 130 people on board.

Included in that group were 16 women. This survivor said he did not have information about the second boat.

The five recovered bodies are being transported by the Ministry of Health to a hospital in Obock for examination.

IOM manages a Migrant Response Centre (MCR) in Obock, where over 500 migrants are being assisted ahead of repatriation to their countries of origin under the voluntary return programme.</s>United Nations: More than 130 migrants thought to be missing off Djibouti after 2 boats capsized

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — United Nations: More than 130 migrants thought to be missing off Djibouti after 2 boats capsized.</s>The death toll from the sinking of two migrant boats off the coast of Djibouti rose to 28 on Wednesday, the UN migration agency said.

"Twenty-three bodies were recovered this morning and the coast guard continues (its) search," Lalini Veerassamy, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief of mission in Djibouti told AFP, a day after five people were found dead.

Two boats carrying migrants bound for Yemen departed from Godoria on the Horn of Africa nation's northeast coast, IOM said, but capsized in heavy seas about 30 minutes into their journey on Tuesday.</s>More than 130 African migrants were missing off Djibouti after two overloaded boats capsized in rough seas on Tuesday, the United Nations migration agency said.

The vessels were heading to Yemen, a gateway to Gulf countries where many migrants hope to find jobs and better lives, said Joel Millman, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Alerted by local residents, a team of gendarmes found two survivors and the bodies of five migrants. The boats were believed to have capsized off Godoria, in Djibouti's Obock region.

IOM staff identified an 18-year-old male survivor believed to have among 130 passengers on the first boat, but he had no information on the second craft, the IOM said.</s>According to witnesses, the overloaded boats carrying migrants faced large waves, and eventually buckled.

At least five migrants have died and more than 130 missing after two boats capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.

According to a statement released by the IOM on Tuesday, the boats sank off the coast of Godoria, a mangrove area in Djibouti’s northeast.

“After being alerted by local residents, a team of gendarmerie gathered this afternoon near the reported site of the disaster and discovered two survivors as well as the remains of three women and two men,” an IOM statement said.

“The coastguard was also alerted and launched search and rescue operations. Those operations are still underway with two patrol boats.”

At least one person has been saved. It was unclear where the boats were headed.

According to witnesses, the boats buckled under excessive load when faced with large waves.

The sinking comes amid an ongoing refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, where boats filled with refugees try to reach mainland Europe after departure from points in North Africa.

On Monday, the Dutch government said it refused to accept a group of 47 refugees currently on a rescue ship that is being blocked from docking on Italian ports.

Following that statement, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he would allow the 47 migrants into his country on condition they would immediately be transferred to the Netherlands.

The Sea-Watch 3, run by a German humanitarian group and flying a Dutch flag, rescued the migrants from a rubber boat off the Libyan coast more than a week ago.

Since then it has been sailing through high winds and seven-metre high waves.

Earlier this month, 49 refugees, including a baby and several children, were in a similar situation when Italy refused to let two rescue ships into its harbours.

Those refugees were eventually accepted by a slew of European countries.

In December, rescue and relief organisations SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced they were ending the Aquarius refugee rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea after “a relentless ongoing political, judicial and administrative campaign backed by several European states”.

MSF said its activities on Aquarius, carried out jointly with SOS Mediterranee, assisted nearly 30,000 people in international waters between Libya, Italy and Malta since the operations started in February 2016.
Two overcrowded boats carrying migrants capsize off the coast of Djibouti, leaving at least 28 people dead and over 130 others missing, according to the International Organization for Migration.