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2025 Marks Deadliest Year on Eastern Migration Route with Over 900 Deaths or Disappearances
More than 900 people died or disappeared along the Eastern Route in 2025, marking the deadliest year on record for the migration path from Africa to the Gulf. Dozens of men trekked home in Djibouti after failing to cross to Yemen. The journey highlights ongoing dangers including starvation and high temperatures.
Apr 30, 11:41 PM·1m read1 source
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More than 900 people died or disappeared along the Eastern Route in 2025, making it the deadliest year on record for the migration path from Africa to the Gulf, Japan Times reported. Dozens of men made a dayslong trek home in Djibouti after failing to cross from Africa to the Gulf. The trek occurred on a vast, sun-scorched plain in Obock, Djibouti.
The men's faces were drawn and their bodies emaciated, with some not having eaten in days. Temperatures in Djibouti's April 'winter' reached 35 C. A few withered acacia trees offered the only occasional shade in the area.
Jemal Ibrahim Hassan hoped to find work in one of the wealthy Gulf monarchies by traveling from Djibouti on the Horn of Africa to Yemen across the Bab-el-Mandab Strait, he stated.
