Having gone innocently for a swim with friends, Marianne and Pape, accompanied by another friend, did not imagine that this moment of leisure would become their last. As reported by L’Observateur, around 11 a.m., the three young friends left their usual group to head alone towards the beach, escaping the vigilance of their parents and residents. The sea, silent and deceptively peaceful, was their last playground.
As they splashed around in the water, the waves suddenly took a dangerous turn. It was the start of a desperate struggle for survival, visible from afar to fishermen preparing to set sail. They, helpless witnesses of the scene, rushed to help them, but fate had already decided otherwise. Despite their courageous efforts, they were only able to save one of the three children. Marianne and Pape disappeared beneath the waves.
The Somone community, united in pain, then mobilized to help the rescue teams. The Mbour firefighters, who arrived on site, took almost two hours to locate the lifeless bodies of the two young victims, whose remains were then transferred to the Thierno Mouhamadou Mansour Barro hospital.
For relatives and neighbors, this double loss is all the more unbearable because it seemed so improbable. According to testimonies collected by L’Observateur, this Sunday morning was like all the others in this neighborhood where children usually play together, carefree. But this time, the unknown and the danger of the sea took away two of their own.
The inhabitants, in a poignant union, mourn Marianne and Pape, children with a future shattered by the relentless force of the waves. This drama has a hard impact on Somone, reminding us that even moments of pure carelessness can turn into tragedy.
