The Red Sea's Eastern Route became the deadliest migration corridor in 2025, with more than 900 deaths recorded [1].

This surge in mortality highlights the extreme risks faced by people fleeing poverty and conflict in Ethiopia. As legal pathways to Gulf countries remain limited, migrants are forced into hazardous informal routes where they face hunger, detention, and shipwrecks.

Mohamed Al-Masri, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, said 2025 was the deadliest year on the Eastern Route, with more than 900 deaths recorded [1]. While some UN estimates placed the figure around 800 [4], the IOM reports a higher toll.

The journey typically involves crossing the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow gateway between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Migrants often board overcrowded and unstable vessels that are prone to capsizing in the volatile waters off Djibouti.

One such tragedy occurred on April 23, 2024, when a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti. The accident resulted in nine deaths [2] and left 45 people missing [3]. A UN migration agency spokesperson said they were saddened by the loss of life and continued to work with Djiboutian authorities to locate the missing [2].

The dangers are not limited to the sea. Migrants often traverse vast distances across the continent before reaching the coast. A UNHCR official said land routes across Africa are twice as deadly as Mediterranean voyages [4].

These conditions create a cycle of desperation. Many migrants from Ethiopia seek work in Gulf states to escape economic hardship, but the lack of safe passage turns the journey into a gamble with their lives. The combination of maritime disasters and land-based perils makes the Eastern Route one of the most dangerous migration paths in the world.

“"2025 was the deadliest year on the Eastern Route, with more than 900 deaths recorded,"”

The increasing lethality of the Eastern Route reflects a systemic failure to provide legal migration alternatives for those in the Horn of Africa. As conflict and economic instability in Ethiopia persist, the reliance on smugglers and unstable vessels in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait ensures that migration remains a high-risk endeavor. The disparity between land and sea mortality rates underscores that the entire journey, from the Ethiopian interior to the Gulf, is a continuous corridor of danger.