IOM evacuated 200 Ethiopian migrants by boat from Yemen, to Djibouti. The evacuation, which took place on Wednesday June 10, involved two boats carrying evacuees to the Djibouti port of Obock.

After a 24-hour journey across the Red Sea between Al Hudaydah, in Yemen, and the port of Obock all migrants arriving at the port were provided with immediate humanitarian assistance by IOM teams.

“This successfully on-going operation is the result of great team-work between IOM teams in Yemen, Ethiopia and Djibouti in coordination with Ethiopian authorities in Yemen and Djibouti. We are incredibly grateful for the excellent support received from national authorities in undertaking this first evacuation by boat,” said Henry Glorieux IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti.

For the journey, IOM Djibouti chartered two boats, in coordination with IOM Yemen to start the evacuation of Ethiopian migrants currently under IOM’s care in the Yemeni city of Hodeida. Both vessels were inspected before departure to ensure that they met minimum standards in terms of security equipment and availability of basic services on board.

These two boats departed Tuesday, June 9, with respectively 50 and 151 individuals on board, for a total of 201 passengers. The group was composed of 24 females and 177 males and included 48 unaccompanied minors.

IOM coordinated the sea evacuation with interlocutors in the Embassy of Ethiopia in Sana'a and Yemen's Immigration Department.

IOM in city of Haradh, which is 200 kilometers far from port of Al Hodeidah, had been taking care of the Ethiopian migrants for the last two months at the Migrant Response Centre. The movement between two cities took two days and migrants were transported in several buses. While in Hodeidah, IOM continued taking care of the migrants, arranging food, drinking water and temporary shelter.

Upon issuance of travel documentation by the Ethiopian consular services, the group of 201 migrants was due to be transported onward from Djibouti to Ethiopia by bus, in two separate convoys, next Saturday and Sunday. This operation has been planned in coordination with IOM Ethiopia.

IOM said that while the caseload of stranded migrants in Hodeida is constantly changing, the organization currently estimates a remaining caseload of approximately 500 Ethiopian in Hodeida.

IOM’s medical teams are providing emergency medical assistance and are monitoring their health conditions of migrants.

The evacuees felt relief to reach Djibouti after such a long trip. Fortunately, meteorological conditions were favorable and the journey was reported to be calm. Migrants said they were pleased to receive hot meals, mattresses, hygiene kits upon arrival at IOM’s Migrant Response Centre in Obock.

Ethiopian consular services travelled to Obock and are currently interviewing their citizens and registering data before IOM offers onward transportation assistance to return the evacuees by land back to Ethiopia.

Until then, evacuees will continue to be accommodated at the IOM Migrant Response Centre in Obock

The current crisis in Yemen has left thousands of migrants and third country nationals stranded in Yemen and IOM stands ready to provide similar evacuation assistance in the future.

Additionally, IOM this week completed its 11th evacuation flight of Third Country Nationals from Sanaa,

bringing out over 1,300 TCNs of 37 different nationalities along with their Yemeni family members (if any) in coordination with consular authorities. Since the conflict began, IOM has supervised 9 flights to Sudan, and one each to Ethiopia and Somalia. On Friday, June 12, IOM plans its latest flight to Sudan.

In Yemen itself, three IOM mobile health clinics continued to operate in Aden in Al Mansoorah, Sheikh Othman and Inma city where most of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are located. The total number of people served through these clinics during the period from 12 May to 9 Jun 2015, is 3,764 including 1,275 women, 918 men, 886 girls and 685 boys.

Similarly, the IOM health staff (9 physicians & 6 nurses) support for the 22 May hospital in Aden has continued. The cumulative number of patients treated since 6 April through the first week of June is around 2,800 including 832 injuries and 2,042 other medical cases. Also, IOM has distributed medicines and medical supplies to the public health facilities in Kreter, Al Moa’ala, Al Boraiqa, Sha’ab and Shiekh Othman districts of Aden.

The IOM mobile clinic in Khanfer district of Abyan governorate, which serves IDPs and their host community, provided services to 827 people including 488 female and 339 males, according to their record since April until present. Moreover, the IOM medical staff - support for the Al Razie hospital and Al Khaber health facility, has assisted 529 patients so far, including 203 injured cases, 326 other medical cases and 82 deliveries of pregnant women.

Since 1st June 2015, three IOM mobile health team started functioning in Shabwa governorate, providing health care activities to IDPs and their host community. The total number of patients treated is 328, including 168 adult females, 114 adult males, 23 girls and 23 boys under 5 year age. The IOM medical team placed in Azan hospital of Shabwah governorate also continued its work during the week.

The two IOM mobile health clinics continued serving the IDPs located in Amanat Al-Asima and Bani Alhareth district of Sana’a governorate. The cumulative statistics since 24 May until 9 June 2015 reported by the two teams are 1,065 that include 318 adult women, 199 adult males, 292 girls and 256 boys.

For further information, please contact Henry Glorieux, CoM IOM Djibouti, Tel: +253 21352459 Email: hglorieux@iom.int or IOM HQ: Joel Millman, Tel + 41 79 103 87 20, Email: jmillman@iom.int  or in Yemen:  Bekim Ajdini, Information Management Officer, Tel +962 79 826 4 906 Email: BAJDINI@iom.int