At least 34 people have died after a small boat carrying migrants capsized off the northwestern coast of Senegal, according to the Senegalese Press Agency (APS), with the toll confirmed by the human rights group Action for Human Rights and Friendship (ADHA).
Senegal’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that one person had been rescued and the search for survivors was continuing. The ministry had earlier put the provisional toll at 21 bodies recovered as of Saturday evening.
The pirogue-type flat-bottomed boat capsized on Saturday off the Loumpoul dunes in the Kebemer department, between Dakar and the northern city of Saint-Louis, about 180 km north of Dakar. Local newspaper Le Soleil reported that most of the victims were from the Leona and Thieppe districts in the same department.
The ministry did not say how many people were believed to have been on board. The boat was carrying people seeking to migrate irregularly, and Senegal’s interior minister is expected to visit the area on Monday.
Thousands of people have died in recent years attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from West Africa, including 635 in the first five months of this year, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders. Spanish authorities on the Canary Island of El Hierro declared an emergency on Saturday after a surge in migrant boat arrivals, with more than 3,300 people arriving aboard around 30 boats since the start of November.
