More than 30 dead as migrant boat sinks off Senegal coast: state media - TimesLIVE

More than 30 people died when a boat carrying migrants sank off Senegal’s coast, a state media report said, as search and rescue efforts continued and activists demanded an investigation into the government’s response to irregular migration.

The incident occurred off Kebemer, a town about 180km north of Dakar, and the interior ministry on Sunday put the death toll at 21, with one survivor rescued.

A report from the official Senegalese Press Agency said the toll had climbed to 34 “following the recovery of additional bodies”.

The boat was carrying people seeking to migrate irregularly, the interior ministry said. It did not say how many were on board.

Thousands of people have died in recent years attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from West Africa, including 635 in the first five months of this year, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders.

Action for Human Rights and Friendship, a local NGO, on Monday said it was calling on the National Assembly to investigate Senegal’s “migration governance”.

“It is no longer enough to deplore shipwrecks, announce control measures and count interceptions,” the group said.