At least nine people died when their pirogue sank off the coast of Senegal, in a new tragedy involving illegal immigration to Europe, the Senegalese navy said on social media on Monday, September 9.
The boat “involved in irregular emigration” capsized Sunday off the coast of Mbour (west), according to the navy. It said it had launched a search with three ships and the support of a Spanish maritime surveillance plane. “Nine bodies were found and three survivors identified. An unknown number of people were rescued by local fishermen.”she said without commenting on the number of missing people.
The search continued on the coast on Monday, journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) noted. Several residents reported that the boat was carrying dozens of migrants, which AFP could not formally confirm. Relatives of the victims and ordinary onlookers were present at the seaside in Mbour to get news of the missing.
Overloaded and often dilapidated boats
Senegal is one of the main departure points for thousands of Africans who have been taking the perilous Atlantic route for years and trying to reach Europe, mainly via the Spanish Canary Islands, on board overloaded and often dilapidated boats.
Thousands of people have died trying to reach Europe in this way in recent years. More than 22,000 migrants have landed in the Canaries since the beginning of the year, more than double the number of the previous year.
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“It’s a real catastrophe that we are currently experiencing and, unfortunately, we will continue to experience this because young people are so determined to leave.”Mohamed Barro, a city councilor, told AFP. He said he lost his 38-year-old nephew, a married father of two, in the shipwreck and said he had been waiting for five hours to retrieve his body from the morgue at Grand Mbour hospital.
At the end of August, the Spanish Prime Minister, on a tour of West Africa, announced the signing with Senegal of a new migration regulation agreement that integrates new sectors of activity and includes training for Senegalese workers settling in Spain.
