At least 34 migrants have died after a wooden boat bound for the Canary Islands capsized off north-west Senegal, with an unknown number of people still missing. The pirogue went down off the dunes at Lompoul, in Kebemer department, and the search continued on Sunday as the confirmed death toll rose.
The migrant support group ADHA confirmed the updated toll of 34. Senegal’s interior ministry had said in a statement on Saturday evening that 21 bodies and one survivor had been recovered. The ministry described that figure as provisional while efforts to find those missing continued.
The number of people aboard the boat has not been established in the information available. With an indeterminate number still unaccounted for, the confirmed death toll does not provide a complete picture of the sinking or of how many people may have survived.
Search continues off Lompoul
The boat was carrying migrants towards the Canary Islands when it capsized off the Senegalese coast. The circumstances of the sinking, including what caused the vessel to overturn, have not been confirmed.
Saliou Diouf, founder of the aid association Boza Fii, said the boat went down on Friday. The precise day remains uncertain, with Saturday also given as the date of the sinking. The interior ministry’s initial recovery figures were released on Saturday evening, before the toll increased through Sunday.
Those recovered on Saturday were Senegalese. The nationalities of all those who died have not been confirmed, and there is no established breakdown of the people who remain missing. The information available also does not give the ages of those aboard.
The ministry’s statement recorded one survivor, but no further confirmed account of that person’s condition was provided. The later increase in the death toll was not accompanied by a confirmed total for survivors, leaving both the scale of the loss and the outcome for others aboard unresolved.
President promises support and action against organisers
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said all state resources had been mobilised to find the missing, care for survivors and support the families affected. His response placed the continuing search alongside the immediate needs of those who survived and relatives of those who died.
Faye also pledged to pursue the networks organising the crossings. No details were provided about suspects, arrests or any investigation specifically connected with the boat that capsized off Lompoul.
The president’s pledge concerns the organisers of the journeys, while the recovery operation is focused on locating people still missing. The available information does not establish who organised this particular crossing, where the pirogue departed from or how long it had been at sea.
Those unanswered questions remain important to understanding the disaster. For now, the confirmed information centres on the location of the capsizing, the bodies recovered and the continuing effort to account for those aboard.
Police stop another boat carrying 142 people
In a separate incident on Friday, police intercepted 142 migrants aboard a similar boat. Among them were 23 women, two babies and two children. Those intercepted came from Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Nigeria.
The interception and the fatal sinking were separate events. There is no confirmed connection between the people aboard the intercepted vessel and those on the pirogue that capsized, nor any established link between the organisers of the two journeys.
The nationalities recorded in the interception cannot be used to identify those who died off Lompoul. While the people recovered on Saturday were Senegalese, the wider nationality breakdown for the fatal crossing remains unconfirmed.
Emergency declared on El Hierro
The sinking came as Spain declared an emergency on El Hierro on Saturday after more than 3,300 arrivals since 1 November. The island is part of the Canary Islands, the intended destination of the pirogue that capsized off Senegal.
That arrivals figure concerns people who reached El Hierro. It does not establish how many vessels left Senegal during the same period, how many people attempted the journey or how many failed to reach the islands.
Off Lompoul, the immediate priority remains the search for the missing. Further recoveries could change the confirmed death toll. The total number aboard, the full list of nationalities and the cause of the capsizing remain unresolved as the authorities continue their response and families await news.
