UN migration agency says 2025 was deadliest year on Red Sea migrant route

The United Nations said on Wednesday that 2025 was the deadliest year ever on the so-called “Eastern Route” for migrants from the Horn of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.

The UN migration agency (IOM) said the number of people who died or went missing on this route across the Red Sea doubled to 922.

Tens of thousands of migrants from Ethiopia, Somalia, and neighbouring countries attempt the crossing each year, mostly from Djibouti to Yemen.

They travel to the wealthy Gulf States in the hope of finding work as labourers or domestic workers.

Many of them find themselves stuck in Yemen – the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula – and which itself has been embroiled in a civil war for nearly a decade.

Some migrants have even chosen to return home due to the risky conditions there.

It said most of the victims were from Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, which is plagued by poverty and multiple internal conflicts.

The UN agency said it is collaborating with the government of Djibouti a bid to promote safe and dignified migration routes so that further tragedies can be averted.

Last month, the IOM said almost 8,000 people died or went missing in 2025 on dangerous migration routes.

That is an average of 21 people per day, but it said the real toll is likely far higher as cuts in funding have impacted humanitarian access and the tracking of deaths.