Born into poverty and with little opportunity at home, Hiwot Mehari took the dangerous smuggling route out of Ethiopia and across the Red Sea to Yemen, from where he hoped to reach Saudi Arabia.

After two years in the deadly border region between Yemen and Saudi Arabia known as Rago, Mehari was caught by border security men and thrown into prison.

On 28 April 2025, he became one of dozens of Ethiopians killed in a US air strike on a migrant detention in Saada, northwest Yemen.

The next day, at noon, Mehari’s parents received the news at home from a neighbour in the Tsirae district of war-ravaged Tigray.