At least 34 dead in the sinking of a small boat off the coast of Senegal | Migration news

Senegal’s Interior Ministry said one person had been rescued as search operations continued after a migrant boat capsized.

A small boat carrying migrants and refugees sank off the coast of northwestern Senegal, killing at least 34 people, according to the Senegalese Press Agency (APS).

The Senegalese Interior Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that one person had been rescued.

A press release published by Action for Human Rights and Friendship (ADHA) confirms the death toll reported by the APS.

According to media reports, the flat-bottomed canoe-type boat capsized on Saturday off the Loumpoul dunes, in the Kebemer department, between Dakar and the city of Saint-Louis (north of the country).

The newspaper Le Soleil specifies that most of the victims came from the districts of Léona and Thieppe, in the same department.

Thousands of people have died in recent years trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from West Africa, including 635 in the first five months of this year, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders.

Spanish authorities on the Canary island of El Hierro declared a state of emergency on Saturday after a sharp increase in migrant arrivals by boat.

Since the beginning of November, authorities in El Hierro have reported that more than 3,300 people have arrived aboard around 30 boats.