Death toll from boat capsized off Senegal rises to 26 | News

The Navy said the search was still ongoing as many passengers from the ship that sank off the town of Mbour were still missing.

The Senegalese Navy says it has found 17 more bodies from a boat carrying refugees and migrants that sank off the coast of the West African country. This brings the death toll to 26.

In a post on X on Tuesday, the navy said it had recovered “17 lifeless bodies” after nine people were initially declared dead following the shipwreck on Sunday off the western town of Mbour.

The search is still ongoing, the Navy said. Many of the ship's passengers are still missing.

The boat – a narrow, wooden fishing vessel known as a pirogue – was carrying more than 100 people from the town and capsized after traveling just four kilometers, state broadcaster Radio Television Senegalaise reported late Sunday.

The AFP news agency reported that witnesses in Mbour said dozens of people boarded the boat.

A military spokesman told Reuters on Monday that the navy had sent a plane and two boats to search for dead and survivors.

The coasts of Senegal are one of the main starting points for thousands of refugees and migrants on their way to Europe.

The Atlantic route is particularly dangerous due to the strong currents. Every year, thousands of people die and disappear on overloaded, often unseaworthy boats.

The route from Africa to the Canary Islands has seen a 154 percent increase in the number of travellers this year, with 21,620 crossings to the archipelago in the first seven months of 2024, according to the European Union border agency.

Spanish authorities estimate that up to 150,000 more people from Africa may attempt the crossing this year.

Years of conflict in the Sahel, unemployment and the impact of climate change on farming communities are among the reasons why people attempt the crossing.