At least 34 migrants died when a boat sank off Senegal en route to Europe, while Spain's Canary island of El Hierro declared a state of emergency after thousands arrived in days.
The pirogue-type boat capsized on Saturday off the Loumpoul dunes in the Kébémer department, between Dakar and Saint-Louis. An initial statement from the interior ministry said 21 bodies had been recovered, but the Senegalese Press Agency later put the toll at 34, confirmed by the rights group Action for Human Rights and Friendship. Only one survivor has been found, and an indeterminate number of people remain missing. Teams have been mobilized to continue searching for more possible survivors. The bodies recovered so far are Senegalese, according to Saliou Diouf, founder of the migrant aid association Boza Fii.
El Hierro, a Canary island with a population of around 10,000, declared a state of emergency on Saturday. More than 3,300 migrants arrived aboard around 30 boats since the start of November. In total, 49 boats carrying 4,587 migrants reached the Canary Islands between 1 and 6 November. 797 people landed on El Hierro over the weekend alone.
The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. At least 635 people died on the route in the first five months of 2026, according to the Spanish rights group Walking Borders. The group said around 21 died for every 100 migrants who reached the islands in that period. In July, the United Nations refugee agency said nearly 150 people died or went missing within one week from boats that sank off Mauritania. On New Year's Eve 2025, a boat carrying more than 200 migrants sank off Gambia, and Red Cross officials reported that 44 bodies were recovered. Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco have stepped up patrols around departure points, forcing boats to head further south toward Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea and prolonging the hazardous crossing.
Senegal's President Bassirou Diomaye Faye offered condolences to survivors and families in a statement on X. "No one should set out with the sea as their only horizon," he said. "We will relentlessly continue the fight against those who organize these crossings and the work that gives our young people reasons to hope here." Authorities also said they intercepted 142 migrants on Friday on a similar boat aiming for Spain. The group included 23 women, two babies and two other children from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Others came from Guinea and Nigeria.
