Military finds over two dozen decomposing bodies in boat off Senegal

Addis Ababa, September 23, 2024 (FBC) – At least 30 decomposing bodies have been found in a boat drifting around 70 kilometres off the coast of Senegal’s capital Dakar, the military said.

The navy was informed of the boat’s presence on Sunday evening and a patrol boat was immediately deployed to the area, the military said in a statement on Monday.

“So far thirty bodies have been counted,” it said, adding that investigations would provide more precise information on the death toll and the boat’s origin.

The corpses’ advanced state of decomposition made the identification process difficult, it said.

The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants and asylum seekers trying to reach Spain, is one of the world’s deadliest.

An unprecedented nearly 5,000 irregular refugees died at sea in the first five months of 2024 trying to reach the Spanish archipelago, migration rights group Walking Borders said in June.