AT LEAST 60 MIGRANTS FEARED DEAD AFTER BOAT INCIDENT OFF CAPE VERDE

Thu 17 August 2023:

Following an incident involving a boat off Cape Verde, West Africa, at least 60 migrants are believed to be dead, according to the International Organization on Migration (IOM).

101 people were on the boat at the time, according to the IOM, who also confirmed that 38 individuals, including four children, were saved.

56 people are missing, and seven deaths have been officially confirmed. According to the IOM, those who went missing at sea are assumed dead, bringing the total number of fatalities to 63.

Police said the long wooden fishing vessel was spotted on Monday in the Atlantic Ocean off west Africa, about 150 nautical miles (277 kilometres) from the Cape Verdean island of Sal.

Initial reports suggested the vessel had sunk, but it was later clarified that it was found drifting. The vessel was located by a Spanish fishing boat, which alerted Cape Verdean authorities.

It was not immediately clear when the incident occurred, but according to survivors the boat left Senegal on 10 July with about 100 passengers on board.

Cape Verde lies about 350 miles (600km) off the coast on the maritime route to Spain’s Canary Islands.

The Atlantic migration route from west Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used to reach mainland Spain, is one of the world’s deadliest.

“Safe and regular pathways to migration are sorely lacking, which is what gives room to smugglers and traffickers to put people on these deadly journeys,” the IOM said.

Recently there have been “an increasing number of immigrants arriving” in the archipelago, according to the IOM, which adds that the nation has recently graduated from a lower- to a middle-income country.

A total of 9,864 migrants have arrived by boat to the Canary Islands this year through August 15, a 4.7% decline compared with the same period last year, Spain’s interior ministry reported.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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