Shipwreck in Senegal: 39 dead and about a hundred missing
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Kassataya
At least 39 people have died and about a hundred are missing after their canoe sank on Friday 6 November off Kébémer, in north-western Senegal. Only one survivor has been rescued, according to the authorities, and the toll could rise further, according to InfoMigrants.
At least 39 people have died and about a hundred are missing after the sinking of a migrant canoe on Friday 6 November off Kébémer, in north-western Senegal, according to the toll announced on Monday evening by the authorities. It is one of the deadliest migration tragedies in Senegal in recent years.
At a press briefing on Monday, the governor of the Louga region, Ndeye Nguenar Mbodj, said 23 bodies have been identified and returned to their families. Only one survivor has been rescued. According to this survivor, Baye, at least 150 migrants were on board, after two days spent offshore waiting for the engine and fuel delivered by the smugglers. The canoe, broken in two, hit a sandbank near the beach before most of the passengers jumped into the water and drowned, according to AFP on the scene.
Interior Minister Mouhamadou Makhtar Cissé visited the site on Monday and conveyed the condolences of the president, the prime minister and the government to the victims' families. Most of the victims come from the villages of Thieppe and Potou.
Update of 10 November 2026: The wreck of the migrant canoe that capsized on Friday afternoon has been found on Tébène 2 beach, in north-eastern Senegal. Read: In Senegal, wreck of the Tébène shipwreck canoe found, 39 dead.
