More than 60 Senegalese starve to death after 37 days adrift in the Atlantic

A total of 63 people have died in the waters of the Atlantic, in West Africa, after spending more than a month adrift in the boat in which they were traveling, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported. The ship, a wooden cayuco about 20 meters long, was found on August 15 by a Spanish fishing boat in Atlantic waters, 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of the coast of the island of Sal, in Cape Verde. , according to a statement from the Police of that country. The survivors have explained that the ship left on July 10 from the beaches of Fas Boye, in the Thiès region, about 130 kilometers north of Dakar, the capital of Senegal. It had 101 passengers on board: one hundred Senegalese nationals and one from Guinea-Bissau.

Of the people found, seven were dead and only 38 have arrived alive, including four minors between the ages of 12 and 16. The remaining 56 passengers remain missing, according to information provided by a spokesman for the IOM regional office, so they estimate that the total death toll is 63 people.

The causes for which the ship drifted are still unknown, but the Red Cross has issued a statement collected by the Cape Verdean media in which it explains the circumstances of what happened to the passengers. “From the seventh day (drift) they ran out of provisions, which cost the lives of more than 50% of the occupants, who were thrown overboard due to the decomposition of the bodies,” the document describes, citing the fishing captain.

At first, the fishermen received authorization to tow the boat, but the moorings began to give way when the tide rose and the crew decided to transfer the survivors to the Spanish ship, named zillarri.

From there they went to the port of the town of Palmeira, on the island of Sal, the closest to their position. “They counted 39 survivors and six corpses, one of whom died during the journey to the port,” adds the Red Cross.

The seven deceased have been transferred to the morgue of the Ramiro Figueira Regional Hospital. Another 16 have also been admitted to the hospital with signs of dehydration, and the rest have received health care in the same port, where the Red Cross has set up several tents. “The survivors are better. They are receiving hydration and care in the tents. We have carried out the tests for malaria and covid-19 and there have not been any positive cases”, Jose Moreira, a health technician from the island of Sal, told the BBC. Subsequently, they have been sent to a reception center set up in a local school.

Senegal is a country of origin and transit for migratory flows to Europe, whose Atlantic route has once again gained strength with the closure of borders caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the associated economic crisis. Between January 1 and August 17, 2023, at least 387 have died or gone missing, including this latest shipwreck. In the same period of the previous year, there were 327, and in all of 2022, 559 deaths or disappearances were registered, including 22 children, according to data collected by the IOM.

“These frequent deaths at sea, whether en route to the Atlantic from West Africa or in the Mediterranean, speak to the desperation felt by thousands of people as they embark on a journey in search of safety, fleeing extreme poverty or the conflict, or looking for a better life,” said Safa Msehli, IOM spokesperson. “There is a lack of safe and regular pathways for migration, which is what allows smugglers and traffickers to take advantage of people and expose them to these very risky journeys,” he added.

In Senegal, the inhabitants of the fishing community of Fass Boye are in a state of “shock”, according to the BBC. Moussa Diop, a university student, has declared to this television channel that three of his cousins ​​and a teenage nephew were in the canoe and that they left secretly, without telling their families. His sister, she says, had no idea her son was on the boat and she has been in despair ever since he disappeared last month. According to the statements collected by the BBC, the first news that this family had about the tragedy came through a video that one of Diop’s cousins ​​sent last Wednesday from Sal to tell them that the three of them had survived and were in the hospital, but that the younger cousin had passed away.

On the other hand, the Cape Verdean authorities are already processing the repatriation of the survivors, as reported by the Government. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, in collaboration with the competent authorities of Cape Verde, has taken the necessary measures for their repatriation as soon as possible,” Minister Annette Seck N’diaye announced in a statement.

In November 2022, Cape Verde and Senegal expressed their desire to strengthen bilateral collaboration and cooperate with other African states to combat illegal immigration. This initiative came shortly after an incident in which a boat with 66 Senegalese immigrants docked on the island of Sal, reports the Cape Verdean agency Inforpress.

Senegal has registered an increase in canoe departures in recent months due to the good weather and the political crisis in the country that led to violent riots, with hundreds of detainees. The boats are mainly headed for the Canary Islands, where 19 arrived from Senegal and Gambia between June 1 and July 15 alone, compared to the three canoes that arrived in all of 2022.

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