The United Nations International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday that rescue teams were searching for more than 100 migrants who went missing after smugglers forced them to jump into the sea off the coast of Djibouti.

She said that at least 45 bodies had been recovered, making 2024 the largest year in terms of deaths resulting from sea crossings on the migration route between East Africa and Yemen.

She added in a statement that 154 people were rescued from two boats with 310 passengers on board, continuing that “the Coast Guard in Djibouti is conducting search and rescue operations to locate the missing migrants.”

Hundreds of people leave the Horn of Africa annually in search of better economic conditions in the Gulf states via what is known as the Eastern Route, which the International Organization for Migration considers one of the most crowded and dangerous migration corridors in the world.

Survivors told the International Organization for Migration that the operators of the two boats forced them into the sea off the coast of Obock, a coastal city in Djibouti.

The organization said that among the survivors was a four-month-old baby whose mother drowned.

Many migrants on the eastern route end up stranded inside Yemen, which is mired in violence, and try to return to Djibouti