At Least 34 Dead After Migrant Boat Capsizes off Senegal

At least 34 people have died after a small boat carrying migrants and refugees capsized off northwestern Senegal, according to the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).

The vessel overturned near the Loumpoul dunes in the Kebemer department on Saturday, according to media reports. The boat was described as a pirogue-type vessel, a flat-bottomed craft commonly used along the West African coast.

Senegal’s Interior Ministry said one person had been rescued and that search efforts were continuing. The ministry has not provided the identities of those who died or details about the rescued person.

Action for Human Rights and Friendship (ADHA) confirmed the death toll reported by APS. The exact number of people aboard the vessel, its departure point and the cause of the capsizing were not provided.

Victims linked to local districts

Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil reported that most of the victims came from the Leona and Thieppe districts, both in the Kebemer department.

The incident adds to continuing concerns over dangerous sea journeys from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands. Migrant rights group Walking Borders has reported that at least 635 people died while attempting the route during the first five months of the year. The group says thousands have died on the journey in recent years.

Authorities on the island of El Hierro have reported that more than 3,300 people arrived aboard around 30 boats since the start of November. Spanish authorities on the island declared an emergency following the increase in migrant boat arrivals.

The Senegalese Interior Ministry’s search operation was still under way, but no further information about additional survivors or recovered bodies was provided.