At least 16 people have lost their lives when a wooden boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Senegal late Sunday, with authorities still expecting more bodies as they continue their search.
“The navy asked the ship to come alongside and they fled,” said Samba Kandji, the district’s deputy mayor. He said, “I was told that 14 [are dead] But two more bodies have been found. We believe it is 16,” he said.
Several witnesses on the beach said that the overturned wooden boat could still be seen floating near the shore.
A 23-year-old man rescued from the sea has said he was trying to reach Europe with his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
He said, “I dreamed of going to Europe because there is no future here. I was ready to board the Pirog, but now I have decided to migrate legally when the opportunity arises.” The boats were too risky, he said.
Activity has increased in recent weeks on the Atlantic sea route off northwest Africa, which is used by migrants trying to reach Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands.
At least 14 people died when a cruise ship capsized in Senegal’s Saint-Louis, near the border with Mauritania, in mid-July.
Morocco’s navy said it rescued nearly 900 irregular migrants over a one-week period this month. Most were from sub-Saharan Africa.
NGOs regularly report fatal shipwrecks in Moroccan, Spanish and international waters, with unofficial estimates placing the death toll in the dozens, if not hundreds.
During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Senegalese President Macky Sall “paid tribute to the memory of those killed in recent accidents at sea”.
They called on the government to increase control over potential departure points, as well as to deploy “surveillance, awareness-raising and support measures for youth” and to strengthen public programs that “combat clandestine migration”.
