Four newly found bodies brought the death toll from the migrant boat wreck to 39 on Monday, Louga Governor Ndeye Nguenar Mbodj said. AFP described it as among Senegal’s deadliest migration tragedies in recent years.
Mbodj’s Monday update raised the toll from 35 recorded Sunday evening to 39. She said the four latest bodies were badly decomposed and that authorization had been requested to bury them on-site.
AFP reported that the wooden pirogue was found in two pieces on the coast at Thieppe. Its reporting identified Thieppe and Potou as the main places of origin. The Senegalese Press Agency (APS) had previously reported 34 deaths and one survivor as searches continued.
In a separate interception Nov. 6, Senegalese authorities stopped a boat carrying 142 people trying to reach Spain. Police said the passengers came from Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Nigeria. The group included 23 women and four children, among them two babies.
Spanish authorities declared an emergency on the Canary Island of El Hierro Nov. 7 amid a surge in arrivals. Island officials counted more than 3,300 people arriving on roughly 30 boats during the first part of November. AFP said thousands of migrants have died in recent years while attempting journeys from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
