300 Senegal Migrants Remain Missing at Sea

Walking Borders, a migrant aid group, has announced that at least 300 people on three migrant boats who were travelling from Senegal to Spain’s Canary Islands are currently considered missing.

Helena Maleno, founder and CEO of the aid group, spoke with an international publication on Sunday, 9 July, saying that the friends and families of the missing people haven’t heard from their loved ones since they left the West African country.

“The families are very worried. There are about 300 people from the same area of Senegal. They have left because of the instability in Senegal,” Maleno said.

Maleno went on to reveal that two boats – one carrying 65 people and another carrying between 50 and 60 people – have been missing for 16 days already. The third boat, carrying 200 people, left Senegal on 27 June.

Many children are believed to have been onboard the boats, adding to the urgency authorities are facing to find the missing vessels.

According to reports, the Atlantic migration route – which is one of the deadliest in the world and is particularly popular during the summer months of the region – is often used by migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who are attempting to reach the Canary Islands.

Image Credit: Source