At least 16 migrants have died in a boat accident off the coast of the Senegalese capital Dakar in West Africa. According to police, the boat was sailing on the Atlantic Ocean towards Spain's Canary Islands when it hit a rock and sank.
Senegalese authorities on Monday (July 24) confirmed that at least 16 people died when a wooden boat carrying migrants capsized along the coast of Senegal's capital city, Dakar.
"14 bodies were fished out and then two more, so there are at least 16 people dead," news agency dpa reported Monday evening, citing a Senegalese official. Citing the same official, dpa said that two people were rescued.
According to news agency AP, the death toll was as high as 17 people.
A police commissioner and head of the national anti-illegal migration division told journalists the migrants were bound for Spain's Canary Islands, and that they were trying to escape navy patrols when their vessel hit a rock and capsized.
Surge in departures
Officials say there's been a surge of boats leaving Senegal for the Canaries this year, AP reported; the majority of boats trying to reach the Canaries in the past departed from Morocco, the Western Sahara territory and Mauritania.
Ailing economies, poor job prospects, extremist violence, political unrest, the adverse effects of climate change as well as other factors push migrants living in African countries to risk their lives on overcrowded boats to reach the Atlantic archipelago, which is part of the European Union.
In Senegal in particular, increasing political and economic instability is pushing more people to attempt the dangerous crossings: Last month, at least 23 people were killed during weeks of protests between opposition supporters and police.
Read more: How climate change is driving Senegal's migration crisis
Unknown number of passengers on board
According to AP journalists covering the scene on-site, rescuers and volunteers continued to work for hours on Monday to pull the capsized boat to the beach on which the bodies were found.
While it was not yet known exactly how many people were on board the boat, dpa reported that local firefighters and fishermen had launched a search and rescue operation near the shore, fearing there might be further casualties.
The incident on Monday is the latest in a series of recent shipwrecks along Senegal's coast. Earlier this month, eight migrants were found dead in a boat off Senegal's northern coast. Also in July, at least 13 Senegalese migrants from the same town died when their boat sank off the coast of Morocco.
Meanwhile, Spanish coast guard authorities on Monday rescued a group of 84 migrants from waters near the island of Gran Canaria. One migrant on the boat had died during the journey. Some of the survivors told the Red Cross that they had been at sea for nine days before the interception.
Read more: 'Each boat is in danger' – the rescue of migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands
Large number of arrivals continues
The so-called Atlantic route from western and northwestern African countries to the Canary Islands is considered particularly dangerous due to its strong currents and high waves.
Yet the number of boats with migrants arriving on the archipelago continues to soar: According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 7,700 migrants from Africa have already been counted as arrivals on the Canaries this year (as of July 16).
Last year, the UN migration agency IOM registered more than 15,000 arrivals in total -- down from 22,000 in 2021. In 2020, there were just over 23,000 arrivals.
Meanwhile, according to Spanish aid organization Caminando Fronteras, at least 700 people have died this year while trying to reach the Canaries from Africa. The IOM, which uses a different methodology, has recorded 46 missing migrants on the same route.
Both organizations say, however, that the real figure is likely to be higher.
with AFP, AP