At least 39 dead as migrant boat breaks apart off Senegal

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erial shot wreck of the pirogue that was carrying migrants euronews.com

At least 39 people have died after a wooden pirogue bound for Spain's Canary Islands capsized off Senegal's Atlantic coast. The boat left Saint-Louis on Friday and its hull now lies broken in two on a beach between Dakar and Saint-Louis; rescue teams have spent three days searching a 25-kilometre stretch of coast and have recovered a single survivor. How many people were aboard is still unknown.

Most of the dead were young people from communities near the departure beaches, Euronews reports. Regional governor Ndeye Nguenar Mbodj said more than twenty victims have been identified and returned to their relatives, and authorities have asked for permission to bury four bodies locally. A judicial investigation has been opened into the sinking.

The Atlantic route to the Canaries runs on overloaded fishing craft through water a pirogue was never built for, and the report notes what enforcement has added: tighter coastal patrols have contributed to longer and more hazardous crossings. The patrols were meant to remove the option; they have instead raised its price — departures pushed further out, routes stretched longer, margins thinner — while the boats keep leaving. Families pay smugglers thousands of dollars for places on vessels like this one, and what they are buying is arrival: shelter, upkeep and, in practice, the right to remain. The patrols and the reception are run by the same governments; one raises the cost of the journey, the other keeps the prize intact. The wreckage at Lompoul is where the two policies meet.

More than twenty of the dead have been identified and returned to their families. Four were too decomposed to travel.