In another tragic incident, over 60 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants was found off Cape Verde in West Africa, BBC reported on Thursday. According to the report, at least 38 people, including children, were rescued, with footage showing them being helped ashore, some on stretchers, on the island of Sal.
Citing authorities and migrant advocates, the news agency The Associated Press reported that the boat departed on July 10 from Senegal with more than 100 migrants. The matter came to light when 38 survivors were rescued near the Atlantic island nation of Cabo Verde-- an island nation about 620 kilometres off the coast of West Africa.
The Spanish migration advocacy group Walking Borders said the vessel was a large fishing boat, called a pirogue, which had left Senegal on July 10 with more than 100 migrants on board. Cheikh Awa Boye, president of the local fishermen’s association, said he has two nephews among the missing. “They wanted to go to Spain,” Boye said.
World’s most dangerous route for migrants
The route from West Africa to Spain is one of the world’s most dangerous, yet the number of migrants leaving from Senegal on rickety wooden boats has surged over the past year.
It is worth mentioning nearly 1,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by the sea in the first six months of 2023, the Walking Borders group says. Factors such as youth unemployment, political unrest and the impact of climate change push migrants to risk their lives on overcrowded boats.
On August 7, the Moroccan navy recovered the bodies of five Senegalese migrants and rescued 189 others after their boat capsized off the coast of Western Sahara.
Also Read: Italy: 41 migrants killed in shipwreck near Lampedusa Island
