At least 33 Ethiopians have died after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the African coast of Djibouti. Among them is an eight-year-old boy.
The UN migration agency said the boat was carrying 77 people on board, crossing the Red Sea from Yemen to Ethiopia.
On Tuesday, fishermen alerted the Coast Guard after seeing some people drowning. Rescue workers were able to rescue 33 people from the sea, the rest are missing, the BBC reported.
Passengers who survived the disaster were taken to a hospital in Djibouti’s coastal town of Godoria. After treatment there, he was sent to Ethiopia under the supervision of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Djibouti’s senior coastguard officer Ise Ya said the people on board the sunken boat were returning home from Yemen, as life had become more difficult abroad than at home.
People have been fleeing since the civil war in Ethiopia. Residents of the landlocked country cross the Red Sea through neighboring Djibouti to Yemen, from where they try to reach Saudi Arabia or other countries. But many are trapped in war-torn Yemen.
Two weeks ago, another boat carrying migrants sank in the same waterway, killing at least 38 Ethiopians.
According to officials, the waterway has recorded nearly 1,000 deaths or disappearances in the past decade.
