At least nine people have died when their canoe sank off the coast of Senegal, in a new tragedy involving illegal immigration to Europe, the Senegalese navy reported on social media on Monday, September 9.
the boat “involved in irregular migration” The ship capsized on Sunday off the coast of Mbour (west), according to the navy. It says it has launched a search with three ships and the support of a Spanish maritime surveillance aircraft. “Nine bodies were discovered and three survivors were identified. An undetermined number of people were rescued by local fishermen.”He specifies, without commenting, the number of missing persons.
The search continued on Monday along the coast, Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists said. Several residents reported that the boat was carrying dozens of migrants, which AFP could not formally confirm. Relatives of the victims and curious onlookers were on the beach in Mbour to receive news about the missing.
Overloaded and often obsolete ships
Senegal is one of the main departure points for thousands of Africans who for years have taken the dangerous Atlantic route and tried to reach Europe, mainly via the Spanish Canary Islands archipelago, aboard overloaded and often obsolete ships.
Thousands of people have died trying to reach Europe in recent years. More than 22,000 migrants have landed in the Canary Islands since the beginning of the year, more than double the number from the previous year.
“We are currently experiencing a real catastrophe and, unfortunately, we will continue to experience it because young people are very determined to leave”“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get my body back,” said Mohamed Barro, a city councillor. 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 collect 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 of a new migration regulation agreement with Senegal, which integrates new sectors of activity and includes the training of Senegalese workers who settle in Spain.
