At least 30 corpses in the process of decomposing were found in a drifting dinghy about 70 kilometers off the coast of Dakarcapital of Senegal, as reported on Monday by the country’s Armed Forces.
The boat was seen this Sunday with several lifeless bodies on board and towed this Monday morning to the port of Dakar, indicated the director of information and public relations of the Armed Forces, the captain of the ship Ibrahima Sow.
“The recovery, identification and transfer operations were very delicate due to the advanced state of decomposition of the bodies. So far, around thirty bodies have been counted.“, Sow said in a statement.
Even if the authorities they did not specify the destination neither of the Mbour boat, nor of the pirogue found this Sunday, Senegal is a country of transit and origin for migrants who arrive irregularly in the Spanish Canary Islands (Atlantic Ocean).
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sancheztravelled to Senegal at the end of last August, as well as to Mauritania and Gambia, countries from which many immigrants arriving irregularly in Spain depart, to deal with this phenomenon.
In these countries, Sanchez defends circular migration in response to hate speech and xenophobia, while choosing to open up investment avenues to generate opportunities.
The migratory route between the African coasts and the Spanish islands is considered one of the most dangerous in the worldwith a mortality rate in recent years of one victim for every twenty survivors, double that of the Mediterranean Sea.
Nearly 5,000 migrants have died at sea during the first five months of 2024 trying to reach the Canary Islands, according to the immigration rights group Pedestrian borders.
