The regional director for the East and the Horn of Africa of the IOM, Mohammed Abdiker, also tweeted on Tuesday that ‘grim photos’ of ‘children’s bodies ashore’ have now appeared. In a tweet from Abdiker, it was said earlier that at least 16 children (8 boys and 8 girls) were among the deceased.
In a press release from the IOM on Tuesday, it said that the 60 “migrants were being transported by human traffickers” from Yemen to Djibouti and that this was the second tragedy of its kind “in just over a month.”
In last month’s tragedy, smugglers threw 80 people overboard due to overcrowding, which left at least 20 people drowning, the press release reads.
“Tens of thousands of young African migrants from the region annually undertake the dangerous journey of countries such as Somalia and Ethiopia through Djibouti and Yemen in search of work in the Gulf,” according to the press release.
The cause of the reversal remains unclear, although many voyages are currently “irregular vessels undertaken by migrants who are desperate to return home daily.”
Despite the dangers, “the number of migrants arriving in Djibouti is increasing,” the IOM said.
“In March, more than 2,433 migrants arrived from Yemen, compared to 1,900 in February. Most tried to return to Ethiopia and Somalia.”
The relentless conflict has trapped ‘tens of thousands of Horn of Africa migrants’ in Yemen with ‘many living in dangerous conditions, usually without access to food, shelter, medical care and security,’ the IOM said.
Migrants who would like to return home are forced to pay smugglers ‘large sums of money to facilitate their risky home journeys’.
In Yemen alone, more than 6,000 people have registered for assistance with VHR (Voluntary Humanitarian Return) to come home with the IOM, which in March launched a $ 99 million call to help meet the needs of migrants in the Provide Horn of Africa and Yemen.