The IOM said in a post on X that at least six other people were missing and presumed dead after the “tragic shipwreck,” while 22 survivors were being helped by its Djibouti office as well as the local authorities.
The Ethiopian embassy in Djibouti said the accident occurred on Monday and involved a boat that was carrying 60 Ethiopian migrants from Djibouti to Yemen.
Hundreds of thousands of African migrants each year brave the perilous “Eastern Route” across the Red Sea and through war-scarred Yemen to reach Saudi Arabia, a desperate ploy to pull their families out of grinding poverty.
The IOM’s Djibouti office said on X that almost 1,000 migrants have died or gone missing on the Eastern Route since 2014.
Nine Egyptian men who were on board a migrant boat that sank off Greece last year, killing hundreds of people, are to face trial next month, accused of people smuggling, Greek judicial sources said on Friday.
The circumstances of the sinking of the Adriana in June remain a source of dispute between the Greek authorities and groups supporting the rights of survivors and migrants — meaning the trial could be the first opportunity to officially hear the accounts of some of those present at the time.
Survivors have accused the Greek coast guard of capsizing the boat. The authorities, which monitored Adriana for hours, say it overturned when a coast guard vessel was about 70 meters away. The coast guard service has denied any wrongdoing.
It remains unclear what happened in the time between the coast guard being alerted to the presence of the vessel and when it capsized.
In a report in December, EU border agency Frontex — which had spotted the boat from the air before the coast guard — said that Greek authorities failed to reply to its follow-up calls and its offers for assistance. It said it could not conclude what caused the Adriana to capsize.
The overcrowded fishing trawler was carrying hundreds of migrants from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt when it sank off the southern town of Pylos, in international waters, on its way from Libya to Italy. Some 104 men survived and only 82 bodies have been recovered.
It was the worst disaster in years and again highlighted the dangers for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
The nine Egyptian men, in pre-trial detention since June, have been charged with causing the incident, participating in a criminal organization, migrant smuggling and other charges, one of the sources told Reuters. They have denied any wrongdoing. The trial is set to begin on May 21 in Kalamata.
“These survivors deserve support, not persecution. It’s time to drop the charges,” said NGO Legal Center Lesvos. Last year survivors recounted how a doomed attempt by the Greek coast guard to tow the trawler capsized the vessel. Their statements contradict the accounts of the Greek government and the coast guard, which said the boat had refused assistance. In September, 40 survivors filed a lawsuit against Greek authorities accusing them of failing to intervene to rescue those on board and causing the vessel to capsize.
The circumstances of the sinking of the Adriana in June remain a source of dispute between the Greek authorities and groups supporting the rights of survivors and migrants — meaning the trial could be the first opportunity to officially hear the accounts of some of those present at the time.
Survivors have accused the Greek coast guard of capsizing the boat. The authorities, which monitored Adriana for hours, say it overturned when a coast guard vessel was about 70 meters away. The coast guard service has denied any wrongdoing.
It remains unclear what happened in the time between the coast guard being alerted to the presence of the vessel and when it capsized.
In a report in December, EU border agency Frontex — which had spotted the boat from the air before the coast guard — said that Greek authorities failed to reply to its follow-up calls and its offers for assistance. It said it could not conclude what caused the Adriana to capsize.
The overcrowded fishing trawler was carrying hundreds of migrants from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt when it sank off the southern town of Pylos, in international waters, on its way from Libya to Italy. Some 104 men survived and only 82 bodies have been recovered.
It was the worst disaster in years and again highlighted the dangers for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
The nine Egyptian men, in pre-trial detention since June, have been charged with causing the incident, participating in a criminal organization, migrant smuggling and other charges, one of the sources told Reuters. They have denied any wrongdoing. The trial is set to begin on May 21 in Kalamata.
“These survivors deserve support, not persecution. It’s time to drop the charges,” said NGO Legal Center Lesvos. Last year survivors recounted how a doomed attempt by the Greek coast guard to tow the trawler capsized the vessel. Their statements contradict the accounts of the Greek government and the coast guard, which said the boat had refused assistance. In September, 40 survivors filed a lawsuit against Greek authorities accusing them of failing to intervene to rescue those on board and causing the vessel to capsize.
