Senegal officials raise migrant boat death toll to 39

The death toll from the sinking of a migrant boat off Senegal rose to 39 on Monday, authorities said -- one of the country's deadliest migration tragedies in recent years.

Thousands of would-be migrants have died recently trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands from west Africa.

The rickety wooden boat, known as a pirogue, shipwrecked off Senegal Friday afternoon.
It could be seen Monday broken in two and severely damaged on a deserted stretch of coastline in the village of Thieppe in the country's northwest.

The victims were from the region, particularly Thieppe and the village of Potou, according to information gathered by AFP.

The toll had stood at 35 on Sunday evening, but Louga regional Governor Ndeye Nguenar Mbodj increased the figure by four on Monday morning.

Mbodj said the four latest bodies were found in "a very advanced state of decomposition" and that authorities had requested to bury them on-site.

Senegal's Interior Minister Mouhamadou Makhtar Cisse visited the site on Monday and paid his respects before the wreckage, AFP journalists observed.

"We can understand the young peoples' wish to leave, their daily difficulties, the desire to fulfil their potential and help their families", he said. "Leaving is an option but dying at sea should not be an option".

He described the smugglers who help migrants make such journeys as "modern day slave-traders" who "must be tracked down relentlessly".

And he advocated for awareness campaigns to prevent young people from buying into "false aspirations", while urging a system in which Spain would allow work permits for migrants for limited periods of time.

In a statement released Monday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) noted that as of October 26 it had recorded at least 454 deaths and disappearances along the

Atlantic route in 2026, adding that the figure represented only a minimum count.
"Many vessels vanish far from the coast, leaving no survivors, no recovered bodies and no trace of what transpired", it said.

It called on countries from beginning to end of the journey to engage in "sustained cooperation".

Senegalese authorities said they had intercepted 142 migrants on Friday who were on a similar small boat aiming to reach Spain.

Meanwhile Spanish authorities on the Canary Island of El Hierro declared an emergency on Saturday after a surge in migrant boat arrivals.

Since the start of November, El Hierro authorities said more than 3,300 people had arrived aboard around 30 boats.

Agence France-Presse