Thirty-eight bodies, including those of children, have been recovered after a shipwreck off the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday.
Yvonne Ndege, regional spokesperson for The International Organisation for Migration, said the shipwreck happened about 200 metres off Djibouti and that the boat carrying the migrants had left Yemen around 2.00 am local time on April 8.
It sank about two hours later with around 66 people on board, predominantly from the Horn of Africa region. They were believed to be mostly Ethiopian nationals, she said.
“Every year tens of thousands of migrants leave the Horn of Africa, mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia trying to reach the Gulf nations,” Ndege said.
“(But) thousands are stuck in Yemen. It’s rational to conclude that the group of migrants who perished in this tragedy were trying to return to Djibouti to buy time and try again later or return home.”
Hong Kong United Times丨香港聯合時報丨HKUT 