The family of Fathi Hussein, a beauty salon owner from Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, is in deep mourning after her tragic death at sea.
Fathi’s attempt to reach the French island of Mayotte, facilitated by migrant smugglers, ended in disaster at sea, exposing the increasingly dangerous nature of these migration routes. According to her stepsister Samira, accounts from survivors reveal that Fathi succumbed to hunger after refusing to eat raw fish and drink seawater during a distressing 14-day ordeal at sea. Ultimately, her body was cast into the ocean. The family learned of her death from fellow Somalis rescued off the coast of Madagascar.
“People were eating raw fish and drinking seawater, which she refused. They [the survivors] said she started hallucinating before she died. And after that they threw her body into the ocean,” Samira tells the BBC.
The International Organization for Migration (IMO) reports that two boats carrying over 70 migrants capsized, leading to 24 confirmed deaths and 48 survivors. Fathi’s choice to undertake this dangerous journey has puzzled her family, as she led a comfortable life in Mogadishu with a successful business. She kept her intentions secret, disclosing her plans only to her younger sister. Survivors describe how the smugglers initially loaded all passengers onto a larger vessel, which suffered mechanical failures, forcing the migrants onto two smaller boats with promises of reaching Mayotte in three hours.
This year alone has marked a particularly deadly chapter for migrants making the journey to Mayotte. IMO’s regional official Frantz Celestin notes the rising frequency of such dangerous undertakings. Interviews conducted by the BBC with Somali migrants reveal two primary routes to Mayotte: one involving a boat from Mombasa through the Comoros islands, and another requiring flights to Ethiopia and Madagascar, followed by a sea crossing to Mayotte.
Khadar Mohamed, one of the few survivors, shares his harrowing escape from Somalia where he faced threats from the militant group al-Shabab. The smugglers typically charge around $6,000 for passage, often utilizing small fishing boats rather than the larger tourist vessels they advertise. Despite the tragedy, the French government has not publicly commented on the incident. Meanwhile, Somalia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Moalim Fiqi is actively working to communicate with the survivors and facilitate their return.
