LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- At least 63 migrants from Senegal are feared to have died after a fishing boat transporting them sank at the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was disclosed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokeswoman, Safa Msehli, on 16 August.
The vessel, according to reports, was a big fishing boat known as a pirogue that left Senegal on 10 July with more than 100 refugees and migrants on board.
Families in Fass Boye, a beach hamlet 145 kilometres (90 miles) north of Dakar, contacted Walking Borders on 20 July after ten days of not hearing from loved ones on the boat, according to Walking Borders founder Helena Maleno Garzón.
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Cheikh Awa Boye, President of the local fishermen’s association, said two of his nephews were missing. “They wanted to go to Spain,” Boye said.
According to the AFP news agency, Jose Rui Moreira, a health officer in Sal, seven survivors needed to be transferred to the hospital.
Cape Verde, an island republic roughly 620 kilometres (385 miles) off the coast of West Africa, is located on the maritime migration route to the Spanish Canary Islands, which serve as a gateway to the European Union.
In January, rescuers in Cape Verde rescued roughly 90 refugees and migrants stranded on a canoe, while two more perished on board.