The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia (MFA) has extended its condolences to the families of the 57 Ethiopians who died in Djibouti boat tragedy last week.
The tragedy occurred off Godoria, in the Obock region of northeast Djibouti, on January 29, the Ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The remains of 57 Ethiopians and a Yemeni national, who was the Captain of the boat, have so far been recovered, it added.
According to the statement, all the 57 Ethiopians who died in the tragic accident were laid to rest at Godoria.
A data released by Berlin-based IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP) indicated that there have been at least 199 drownings confirmed off the coast of Obock, Djibouti since 2014.
MMP has records of three major shipwrecks of craft departing Obock, before last week’s tragedy. In 2014 one wreck was recorded in late February resulting 17 dead or missing; another in mid-November left 30 dead or missing.
Two more tragedies in 2016—10 dead 5 October; another on 21 October left 14 dead—for a total of 71 deaths off Djibouti before lastweek’s shipwreck, which MMP estimates has resulted in at least 128 new deaths.
MMP also has recorded additional sea tragedies in the Horn of Africa-to-Yemen route that occurred further offshore from Obock itself.