The vessel was carrying 305 people, most of them Ethiopian, when it capsized north of the Djibouti town of Obock overnight on October 8-9, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.
“Survivors told me that the boat started to sink backwards as soon as they got in it,” Alexandre Coissac, IOM chief of mission in Djibouti, told AFP.
“This is a devastating loss of life,” he said earlier in the statement.
“Our thoughts are with the survivors and the families who have lost loved ones or remain without news of their relatives.”
