Navy says search continues as many passengers from the vessel, which sank off the city of Mbour, stay lacking.
Senegal’s navy says it has discovered 17 extra our bodies from a ship carrying refugees and migrants that sank off the West African nation, elevating the loss of life toll to 26.
In a put up on X, the navy stated on Tuesday that it had recovered “17 lifeless our bodies” after 9 folks had been initially introduced useless following Sunday’s shipwreck off the western city of Mbour.
The search is ongoing, the navy stated. Most of the vessel’s passengers stay lacking.
The boat – a slender, picket fishing vessel often called a pirogue – was carrying greater than 100 folks from the city, and it capsized after crusing solely 4km (2.5 miles), state broadcaster Radio Tv Senegalaise stated late on Sunday.
Witnesses in Mbour had been quoted as saying that dozens of individuals had boarded the boat, the AFP information company reported.
A spokesperson for the armed forces instructed the Reuters information company on Monday that the navy had despatched a aircraft and two boats to seek for the useless and survivors.
Senegal’s coasts are one of many main departure points for 1000’s of refugees and migrants heading to Europe.
The Atlantic route is especially perilous as a result of robust currents. 1000’s of deaths and disappearances happen yearly on overloaded, typically unseaworthy boats.
The route from Africa to the Canary Islands has seen a 154 % surge in folks making the journey this 12 months with 21,620 crossings to the archipelago within the first seven months of 2024, in response to information from the European Union’s border company.
Spanish authorities stated as many as 150,000 extra folks from Africa could also be set to make the crossing this 12 months.
Years of battle within the Sahel area, unemployment and the affect of local weather change on farming communities are among the many the explanation why folks try the crossing.