30 die in latest tragedy off Djibouti coast, 16 rescued by IOM

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Wednesday revealed that remains of some 30 victims have recovered so far from Tuesday's sea tragedy along the Red Sea coast in Djibouti.

"Through noon local time, IOM's team has learned that the remains of 30 victims have been recovered - three men and two women found on Tuesday and another 25 persons today," the UN migration agency, IOM, said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

IOM also revealed that a total of 16 survivors have been recovered from the accident that occurred in Obock, on Djibouti's Red Sea coast.

The tragedy occurred off Godoria, a locality in the Obock region of northeast Djibouti.

Following the incident on Tuesday, a team of gendarmerie gathered near the reported site of the incident alerted by local residents in the area. The team discovered two survivors on Tuesday.

The latest incident is said to be one of the many similar deadly calamities that have occurred on Djibouti's Red Sea coast area, as desperate East African migrants attempted to cross the dangerous route hoping to reach the Middle East via the war-torn nation Yemen, mainly aiming at reaching Yemen' northern neighbor Saudi Arabia.

IOM's Missing Migrants Project (MMP), based in Berlin, also on Wednesday released data indicating there have been at least 199 drowning off the coast of Obock, Djibouti since the year 2014.

The MMP has also revealed records of three major shipwrecks of craft departing Obock, before Tuesday's tragedy.

A shipwreck, which was recorded in late February 2014, had resulted in the death or missing of some 17 people, while another similar incident in November 2014 had also left some 30 dead or missing.

Two more tragedies in 2016 had left some 24 people dead - one on October 5 that killed 10 people, and the second incident on October 21 left 14 people dead.

The number of causalities from Tuesday morning's incident has ignited fear as more than 130 migrants went missing from the capsizing of the two boats.

IOM's Djibouti Chief of Mission, Lalini Veerassamy, said following the deadly incident on Tuesday that such tragic incidents showcase the extent of menaces desperate migrants encounter while they cross the Red Sea route.

"This tragic event demonstrates the risks that vulnerable migrants face as they innocently search for better lives," IOM's statement on Wednesday quoted Veerassamy as saying on Wednesday.

"The government of Djibouti has always shown empathy and regional leadership on this critical issue. We will continue to support them to prevent such tragedies and protect migrant lives," Veerassamy added.

In addition to the Red Sea coast along Djibouti, similar deadly incidents is also rampant along the coast of Somalia.

In June last year, IOM had said that some 46 Ethiopian migrants had drowned and 16 others were missing, while they were on their way of crossing the Gulf of Aden after departing from Somalia.

Another incident happened on June 5 when at least 100 migrants crammed onto a smuggler's boat that left the port of Bossaso, Somalia.

The migrants who were reported to be Ethiopians, 83 men and 17 women, were travelling through the night across the Gulf of Aden to find employment in Yemen and the Gulf region, when their vessel capsized in high waves as it approached its destination, IOM had said.