At least nine people have died after their boat sank off the coast of Senegal, the navy said Monday, in the latest migration-linked tragedy to occur off the coast of West Africa.
Pape Samb is looking for his 17-year-old nephew who has not returned since the shipwreck. "I came to get information but we haven't found him yet," he told RFI. He had left on Monday.
The pirogue was "involved in irregular emigration" and capsized on Sunday off the coast of the western town of Mbour, the navy said in a post on social media.
Cheick, a Senegalese man who knew twenty people who were in the canoe added: "What is happening in Mbour is disastrous.
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The pirogue had at least 150 passengers on board.
The navy said it had launched a search involving three vessels and a Spanish maritime patrol aircraft.
"Nine lifeless bodies were discovered and three survivors were identified. An unknown number of people have been rescued by local fishermen", it said, without giving the number of missing.
The search is ongoing along the coast.
Several locals said the boat was carrying dozens of migrants.
Onlookers and relatives of the victims gathered on the shore for news of the missing.
"It's a real catastrophe that we're currently experiencing...unfortunately [it is] going to continue...because young people are so determined to leave," Mohamed Barro, a local councillor, told French news agency AFP.
He said he lost his 38-year-old nephew, who was married with two children in the shipwreck and had been waiting five hours to recover his body from the morgue at a local hospital.
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Migration route
Senegal's coast is one of the main departure points for thousands of migrants heading to Europe.
The Atlantic route is particularly perilous due to the strong currents. There are thousands of deaths and disappearances every year on overloaded, often unseaworthy boats.
Over 22,000 migrants have already landed in Spain's Canary Islands so far this year, more than double the number from the previous year.
During a three-day West African tour at the end of August, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez signed a new agreement with Senegal aimed at regularising migration.
The accord covers new economic initiatives and includes training for Senegalese who settle in Spain.
(with newswires)
