Senegalese boat sinks off Morocco coast leaving 13 migrants dead

A minimum of 13 Senegalese migrants from the identical city died when their boat sank off the coast of Morocco late final week, the city’s mayor advised AFP on Thursday 20 July 2023.

The information comes amid heightened consideration on the Atlantic migration route — from the coast of West Africa to the Spanish Canary Islands — after a number of boats have sunk or gone lacking there in latest weeks.

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Oumar Cisse, mayor of Rufisque, close to the capital Dakar, advised AFP 13 residents of the city had perished. He stated he had spoken to survivors who advised him a complete of 18 individuals had died.

What number of Senegalese migrants had been on board?

“They had been in a 63-person pirogue that capsized,” he stated, referring to the lengthy picket fishing boats typically used for irregular migrant crossings. “The survivors are being sorted within the municipality of Dakhla” in southern Morocco, he added.

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Cisse stated he was working with native authorities to repatriate survivors. He stated six individuals from his city had additionally been hospitalised. Moroccan authorities didn’t affirm the data.

President Sall pays tribute

Senegal’s President Macky Sall “paid tribute to the reminiscence of those that died within the latest accidents at sea”, in response to a authorities assertion late Thursday.

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He known as on the federal government to accentuate controls at potential departure websites, in addition to to deploy extra “measures of surveillance, awareness-raising and help for youth” and reinforce public packages that “fight clandestine emigration”.

On Tuesday, Morocco’s navy stated it had “rescued” practically 900 irregular migrants — 400 of whom had been in its territorial waters — in a one-week interval this month. Most had been from sub-Saharan Africa.

A minimum of 14 individuals died eight days in the past when a pirogue capsized off the Senegalese metropolis of Saint-Louis, close to the border with Mauritania. NGOs often report deadly shipwrecks in Moroccan, Spanish and worldwide waters, with unofficial estimates placing the demise toll within the dozens if not tons of.

amt-mrb/giv/jj© Agence France-Presse