At least 34 people have died after a small boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of north-western Senegal, the Senegalese Press Agency (APS) reports. The Senegal migrant boat disaster is the latest tragedy on the perilous Atlantic route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, with one survivor rescued and an unknown number of people still missing.
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- At least 34 people died after a wooden pirogue capsized off the Loumpoul dunes in the Kébémer department, about 180 kilometres north of Dakar, APS reported.
- Firefighters told AFP on Sunday evening that the provisional death toll had reached at least 35, with one survivor rescued.
- Senegal’s Interior Ministry first said 21 bodies had been recovered on Saturday evening, calling the figure provisional while search operations continued.
- The number of people aboard the boat has not been established, and the cause of the capsizing has not been confirmed.
- President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said all state resources had been mobilised to find the missing, care for survivors and support the families affected.
- Spain’s Canary Island of El Hierro declared an emergency on Saturday after more than 3,300 people arrived on around 30 boats since the start of November.
Senegal Migrant Boat Disaster: Search Continues Off Loumpoul
The pirogue went down off the dunes at Loumpoul, in the Kébémer department between Dakar and the northern city of Saint-Louis, as it headed towards Spain’s Canary Islands. The search continued on Sunday as the confirmed death toll rose, and rescuers are still looking for people who remain unaccounted for.
The migrant support group Action for Human Rights and Friendship (ADHA) confirmed the toll of 34 reported by APS. The exact day of the sinking is disputed: media reports put the capsize on Saturday, while Saliou Diouf, founder of the migrant aid association Boza Fii, said the boat went down on Friday.
Migrants aboard a wooden pirogue alongside a Spanish rescue vessel during a rescue at sea on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.
Diouf told AFP that all the bodies recovered so far were Senegalese. The national newspaper Le Soleil reported that most of the victims came from the Leona and Thieppe districts, in the same department. The ministry has not provided the identities of those who died or details about the rescued person.
President Promises Support and Action Against Organisers
President Faye expressed condolences to the families of those who died and urged young people not to risk their lives on dangerous migration journeys. He said the search for the missing would continue alongside care for survivors and support for relatives.
Faye also pledged to pursue the networks organising the crossings, and the Interior Ministry stressed the government’s determination to combat people smuggling networks, including through strengthened cooperation with neighbouring countries. No details have been provided about suspects, arrests or any investigation specifically connected with the boat that capsized off Loumpoul.
In a separate incident on Friday, Senegalese authorities intercepted 142 migrants aboard a similar boat aimed at reaching Spanish territory. Among them were 23 women, two babies and two children, from Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Nigeria. There is no confirmed connection between the people aboard the intercepted vessel and those on the pirogue that capsized.
Deadly Atlantic Route to the Canary Islands
The sinking came as authorities on El Hierro declared an emergency on Saturday after a marked increase in migrant boat arrivals, as Watan News reported. More than 3,300 people have arrived on around 30 boats since the start of November, and officials said conditions at the island’s hospital had become undesirable. El Hierro is home to about 11,400 residents.
Colourful wooden pirogues on the shore in Senegal, the boats used for fishing and for the Atlantic crossing to the Canary Islands.
The Atlantic crossing from West Africa to the Canaries is one of the world’s deadliest migration routes. Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders recorded 635 deaths on the route between January and May 2026, and the International Organization for Migration recorded 54 shipwrecks on the West African Atlantic route in 2025, with 1,214 migrants dead or missing.
The disaster follows another deadly crossing in the Mediterranean, where twelve migrants were found dead on a boat off Crete earlier today, as Watan News reported. Off Loumpoul, the immediate priority remains the search for the missing, and further recoveries could change the confirmed death toll.
