At least 140 migrants have drowned off the coast of Senegal in the deadliest shipwreck this year, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement on Thursday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th October, 2020) At least 140 migrants have drowned off the coast of Senegal in the deadliest shipwreck this year, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement on Thursday.
"At least 140 people have drowned after a vessel carrying around 200 migrants sank off the Senegalese coast, the deadliest shipwreck recorded in 2020," the statement said.
The Europe-bound boat caught fire a few hours after departure from a Senegalese coastal town of Mbour and capsized near Saint-Louis, the agency said.
The Senegalese and Spanish navies and fishermen rescued 59 people and retrieved the remains of 20 others.
The sea passage from West Africa to the Canary Islands has seen a surge in the number of migrants trying to cross it in 2020. According to IOM, there have been some 11,000 arrivals to the Spanish archipelago this year, compared to 2,557 during the same period in 2019.
