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Scores Drown After Migrant Boat Sinks off Senegal?s Coast

In another tragic story relating to desperate migrants trying to reach Europe from African shores, a fishing boat sank off the Senegalese coast. Eighty migrants are presumed dead and many others have been hospitalized for dehydration and starvation. Every year, thousands of people try to make the crossing from Africa?s coastal countries to the Canary Islands and other close European destinations in a bid to leave behind raging poverty and hunger and make a better life for themselves. Hundreds die annually in these attempts.

The fishing boat left Senegal at the beginning of December to try and reach the Canary Islands. At least 100 people were packed onto the boat that capsized twice during its treacherous journey. Scores of people fell out into the water and were left for dead. The boat drifted for 10 days before rescue teams managed to save the dehydrated and starving survivors. About 20 people were pulled from the water and authorities are trying to identify the bodies of the 80 migrants who died.

Creaky fishing boats with one single outboard motor regularly risk the journey across the waters, traditionally carrying up to 50 people and sometimes more. The migrants pay huge amounts of money to spend several weeks aboard these boats, usually without food or fresh water ? with the single hope of reaching European shores.