DAKAR, Dec 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 12 people died on Wednesday after a boat filled with migrants seeking to reach Europe sank off the coast of Senegal, security sources said.
The coastal west African country is one of the main departure points for the thousands of Africans who for years have been taking the perilous Atlantic route to reach Europe, primarily via the Spanish Canary Islands, aboard overcrowded and often dilapidated boats.
The latest sinking came in the waters off the town of Mbour when a boat loaded with around 100 people capsized, a security source said.
“Twelve bodies were retrieved,” security sources said.
“There were 32 survivors. The others probably fled” before rescue services arrived on the scene, one source told AFP.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye expressed condolences to the families of the victims in a social media post on Wednesday.
“We share their sorrow and their pain while the search continues to find any survivors,” he said.
On Tuesday, police intercepted 123 migrants aboard a boat in Senegal’s Thies region. — NNN-AGENCIES