PH
Rescuers recovered more than 20 bodies from the water near northern Senegal on Wednesday after a boat carrying migrants bound for Europe capsized, according to a regional governor.
“A little more than 20 bodies” had been found, Saint-Louis regional governor Alioune Badara Samb said by telephone, adding that another 20 people had been saved.
Badara Samb did not specify how many passengers were on board the vessel, but survivors told AFP that the figure could have been in the hundreds.
Mamady Dianfo, from Casamance in the country’s extreme south, said the boat left Senegal a week ago with approximately 300 passengers.
Another survivor, Alpha Balde, reported 200 passengers.
Senegal’s beaches are becoming an increasingly popular departure point for African migrants traveling to the Spanish Canary Islands, their port of entry into Europe.
