At least 17 people have been found dead in the Atlantic off the coast of Senegal. They are believed to be migrants traveling on a boat that capsized overnight on Monday.
It is unclear where they came from, but the site is on a well-known route for migrants heading to Europe.
Many of the bodies had washed ashore, which is said not to be common. It is all the less unusual for migrants to die off the coast of Senegal.
– It’s not the first time, it’s the fifty-first time it’s happened. The government must take action, says Ndeye Top Gueye, deputy mayor of the Dakar suburb of Ouakam where the dead were found.
According to the aid organization Walking Borders, more than 800 migrants have died or disappeared along Africa’s west coast so far this year.