GENEVA - At least 139 migrants, including 15 children, died after an overcrowded boat capsized off Djibouti, while 84 people remained missing as rescuers searched one of the world's most dangerous migration corridors.

The International Organization for Migration said the vessel was carrying 305 people from Djibouti toward Yemen when it sank near Guhere, north of the port town of Obock. Survivors said the disaster happened between Thursday night and early Friday in waters close to the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

More than 80 people survived, all of them Ethiopian nationals, according to the U.N. migration agency. They were taken to an IOM center in Obock for medical treatment after swallowing seawater and for psychological support. Some had already learned that relatives traveling with them were dead; others were given phones to tell families at home that they were alive.

Alexandre Coissac, the IOM's chief of mission in Djibouti, said the passengers boarded on the evening of October 8 and the vessel sank soon after departure, close to shore, mainly because it was overcrowded. Local authorities responded but were overwhelmed as bodies washed toward the coast.

The official death toll includes only those buried by Djiboutian authorities. Coissac said migrants had buried other victims themselves, but those deaths would not be added until officials verified the bodies. Many were placed in a common grave without identification, raising the possibility that some families may never receive certainty about what happened.

Search and rescue operations continued Sunday. The IOM warned that the toll could still rise because dozens of people had not been located. Personal belongings and life jackets were found along the shore.

The passengers were traveling east on the route from the Horn of Africa through Djibouti and across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Tens of thousands attempt the crossing each year before continuing toward Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in search of work and safety.

The direction of the journey exposes the desperation behind it. Migrants are crossing into Yemen even as conflict there has intensified, then facing detention, exploitation, violence and dangerous desert routes on the way north. The possibility of income in wealthier economies remains powerful enough to outweigh dangers that are already widely known.

This was not only an accident at sea

Overcrowding may explain why the vessel failed, but it does not explain why more than 300 people were placed aboard it. That requires an organized chain of recruiters, transporters and boat operators willing to profit from people whose legal options are scarce.

The darker reality of irregular migration is that risk is deliberately transferred to the passenger. Smuggling networks take payment before departure. If the boat survives, the business continues. If it sinks, the dead often have no documents, no official advocate and sometimes not even a name on a grave.

Governments cannot end that system through border enforcement alone. Arresting a boat operator after a disaster does little if recruiters can replace the crew and if poverty, conflict and closed legal routes continue to supply customers. Effective action must follow the money, disrupt the organizers and protect witnesses who can identify the networks.

Djibouti and Ethiopia need stronger support for registration, rescue capacity and family tracing. Gulf governments should increase lawful labor channels with enforceable contracts so workers are not pushed toward smugglers. The United States and other democracies can help fund maritime surveillance and investigations while insisting that anti-smuggling operations respect migrants' rights.

There is also a duty to identify the dead. Biometric records, recovered phones, passenger testimony and DNA collection can give families answers and preserve evidence against those responsible. Treating the victims as anonymous statistics makes the next overloaded departure easier to ignore.

The number 139 may rise, but it is already large enough to demand more than condolences. The test is whether authorities dismantle the business that filled the boat, expand safer choices for workers and give every recovered victim a name. Otherwise, the Eastern Route will continue to turn economic hope into an acceptable cost for criminals and indifferent governments.