Not less than 140 migrants drown off the coast of Senegal in the course of the deadliest shipwreck in 2020

Not less than 140 migrants have drowned off the coast of Senegal within the deadliest shipwreck recorded this yr, the UN migration company mentioned on Thursday.

About 60 folks had been rescued by Senegalese and Spanish fleets and fishermen, mentioned the Worldwide Group for Migration (IOM).

The boat caught hearth and capsized hours after leaving town of Mbour to the Canary Islands on Saturday, it’s mentioned.

“Not less than 140 folks have drowned after a ship carrying about 200 migrants sank off the coast of Senegal, the deadliest shipwreck recorded in 2020,” the IOM mentioned in a press release.

The harmful sea passage from West Africa to the Canary Islands was as soon as an essential route for individuals who needed to flee poverty. Makes an attempt turned scarcer when Spain intensified patrols within the mid-2000s, however the street sees a pointy improve this yr.

Migrants arriving within the Canary Islands from West Africa have greater than quadrupled up to now this yr to about 11,000 in comparison with the identical interval in 2019, the IOM mentioned.

Fourteen boats with 663 migrants left Senegal to the islands in September, of which greater than 1 / 4 skilled an incident or shipwreck.