Staff Writer
According to local authorities on Monday, at least 17 persons were discovered dead after a boat sank in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
Two people were saved alive, although it is unknown how many people were in the pirogue.
The dead were found by the navy early in the morning, and based on the kind of boat they were in, it is thought that they were migrants, according to Ndeye Top Gueye, the mayor of the Ouakam community.
Despite the fact that this is the first time bodies have washed ashore in the area, migrant deaths at sea are on the rise in Senegal.
Where the people were from, what their nationalities were, and even where they were headed were all unknown.
According to the Spanish relief organization Walking Borders, the Atlantic migration route is one of the deadliest in the world, with about 800 people expected to die or go missing in the first half of 2023.
According to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, search activities have also recently been conducted in Spain to locate migrant boats from Senegal that have vanished and were carrying more than 300 people.
