At least 22 Ethiopian migrants were killed and more than 60 were injured after a lorry they were travelling in overturned in the country's northern Afar region, local authorities said on Tuesday, TRT Afrika reported on Wednesday, January 7.

Ethiopia is one of the main departure points for the "Eastern Route" by which people migrating leave the Horn of Africa in search of work in wealthy Gulf countries.

Thousands of African migrants take the route across the Red Sea, mostly from Djibouti to Yemen in search of work as labourers or domestic workers.

The accident occurred early on Tuesday in Semera in the Afar region, several hundred kilometres west of Djibouti.

High rate of fatalities

"The accident happened when a lorry overturned which had crowded in citizens who were misled by illegal brokers and didn't understand the travel route's danger," regional authorities said in a press release.

There were 22 deaths and 65 injuries, according to the statement.

A photo published on the Afar authorities' Facebook page showed an overturned truck, its passenger compartment and rear section destroyed.

There were 890 deaths and disappearances along the Eastern Route between January and September 2025, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – more than double the 421 deaths recorded during the same period in 2024.