DJIBOUTI CITY, 13 April, 2021 (TON): The regional head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed that 34 migrants had died after their boat capsized off Djibouti.

Mohammed Abdiker, IOM's director for the East and Horn of Africa tweeted, "The migrants were being transported by smugglers.

He added "It is second such tragedy in just over a month after 20 people died in the same Bab el-Mandeb Strait on March 4.”

A source within IOM indicated that the capsizing happened around 04:00 in the morning, north of Obock, a city on the Djiboutian coast.

"It is a boat that left Yemen with about 60 migrants on board, according to survivors," added the source.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which separates Djibouti from Yemen, is a place of heavy traffic of migrants and refugees, where both Yemenis, fleeing the war and Africans going to try their luck in the Arabian Peninsula cross.

In March, some 20 migrants from Djibouti drowned after smugglers threw dozens of people on an overcrowded boat of 200 people into the sea.

Two similar incidents were reported in October, resulting in the deaths of at least 50 migrants.