At least 30 decomposing bodies have been found in a boat off the coast of Senegal, military officials said.
The navy was alerted to the vessel about 70 kilometers from the capital Dakar, according to a military statement on X. They brought the wooden boat, or ship, into the harbor on Monday morning.
“The recovery, identification and transfer of the property was made more difficult due to the advanced state of decomposition of the bodies,” the statement said.
There has been a recent surge in migrants from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands – a journey of more than 1,500km (950 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean.
Judging by the way the bodies were decomposed, the migrants had probably been in the Atlantic Ocean for days before the fishermen found them.
An investigation is underway to determine when and where the boat left, and how many people were on board, the military said.
“We must avoid this type of travel. It’s a kind of suicide,” said Dakar boat owner Mandiaye Diène.
He told the BBC that swordfish fishermen, who travel more than 60km from the coast, often come across floating corpses or boats with lifeless corpses floating in the water.
“It’s a sad ending. Of course I am not against this kind of migration, but people are desperate,” said Bassirou Mbengue, a fisherman and boat owner.
Some Senegalese fishermen say they can no longer make a living from fishing because of the presence of foreign fishermen on the coast, so they turn to migration, or give their boats to smugglers..
“It is dangerous to travel by sea to Europe. I wouldn’t do that to my children. But you can’t blame those who go. There are no more fish on our shores and fishing gear is expensive,” said Mr Mbengue, 50.
In August, at least 14 decomposing bodies, believed to be Senegalese migrants, found on the shores of the Dominican Republic by a local fisherman.
Senegal’s government announced a 10-year plan in August to tackle illegal migration amid a spike in migrant-related deaths.
Authorities have detained hundreds of migrants from boats off the country’s coast in recent weeks.
Despite frequent disasters, unemployment, conflict and poverty drive young men to risk the route from West Africa to the Canary Islands in Spain.
Boubacar Sèye, President of Horizons sans Frontières, an NGO that raises awareness of the consequences of illegal immigration, told the BBC that “given the recurrence of this type of tragedy, we can say that this is no longer a cyclical phenomenon, but rather a structural one. “.
“To stop this, we need to attack the problem at the source, with new ways of raising awareness in the most vulnerable areas”, said Mr Sèye.
For him, “despair is complete”, for many people until “the most vulnerable people think they have no future in the country”.
Young migrants from West Africa have been using the Canary Islands route to reach Europe because it involves a single journey, albeit a dangerous one, rather than having to cross both the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.
Frontex, the European border agency, reported that in 2023 the Atlantic route saw an increase of 161% compared to the previous year.
The UN says around 40,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands last year.
About 1,000 are known to have died or disappeared along the way. Although the actual number is likely to be much higher.
Additional reporting by Natasha Booty
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