- A boat carrying about 100 people capsizes near Mbour.
- 32 survivors reported, others flee before rescuers arrive.
- President Faye offers condolences, search for survivors continues.
At least 12 people died on Wednesday after a boat full of migrants seeking to reach Europe sank off the coast of Senegal, security sources said.
The West African coastal country is one of the main departure points for the thousands of Africans who have for years taken the perilous Atlantic route to reach Europe, primarily via the Spanish Canary Islands, aboard overcrowded and often dilapidated boats.
The latest shipwreck occurred in the waters off the town of Mbour when a boat loaded with about 100 people capsized, a security source said AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Twelve bodies were retrieved,” the source said.
Another security source confirmed the charge to AFP.
“There were 32 survivors. The others probably fled” before emergency services arrived at the scene, a source said AFP.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye expressed condolences to the victims’ families in a social media post on Wednesday.
“We share their grief and their pain as the search continues to find survivors,” he said.
On Tuesday, police intercepted 123 migrants on board a boat in the Thies region of Senegal.
