The United Nations migration agency said on Tuesday that 21 migrants have died, and another 23 are missing after a boat carrying 77 people capsized off the coast of Djibouti.
It was the second tragic marine accident in two weeks off the Horn of Africa, which is situated on the perilous so-called eastern migration route from Africa to the Middle East.
Tanja Pacifico, the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) chief of mission in Djibouti, told AFP in Nairobi that more than 20 bodies had been found, while roughly the same number remained missing.
She reported late on Tuesday that another 33 people had survived the accident.
The IOM wrote in an earlier post on X, formerly Twitter, that "Tragedy as boat capsizes off Djibouti coast with 77 migrants on board including children," with a count of at least 16 dead and 28 missing.
The IOM branch in Djibouti is helping local authorities with search and rescue efforts.
Yvonne Ndege, a spokesperson for the agency, told AFP that children and a baby were among the dead, but she did not provide any other details.
Ethiopia's ambassador to Djibouti, Berhanu Tsegaye, said on X, formerly Twitter, that the ship went down on Monday night off the coast of Godoria in northeastern Djibouti while carrying Ethiopian migrants from Yemen.
Tsegaye expressed his deep sorrow over the succession of horrific disasters, saying that he reiterated that legal measures should be taken against illegal human smugglers who put the lives of their citizens at risk.
According to the IOM and the Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti, another ship carrying over 60 people sank off the coast of Godoria in April.
The IOM claimed that six migrants remained missing and that 38 migrants' bodies, including those of children, had been found.
Furthermore, the Ethiopian embassy said that it was transporting migrants from Djibouti to war-torn Yemen.
