- Tragic Migrant Boat Incident: Attempting to Reach Spain
- Personal Stories of Determination and Risk in Pursuit of a Better Life
- Families’ Anguish and Desperation Amidst Dangerous Migration Routes
The brother of a man who perished after a boat carrying dozens of migrants was discovered off the coast of Cape Verde told that the migrants were attempting to reach Spain.
On the boat, which was at sea for over a month, it is believed that more than sixty persons perished. Most were Senegalese.
“Everyone is in disbelief. “He was one of our family’s pillars,” Mamour Ba said of his sibling Cheikhouna.
Although it was impossible to make a living in Senegal, the 27-year-old said he would undertake the journey himself.
Mr. Ba, age 27, is a student from the small fishing village of Fass Boye, located midway between the capital city of Dakar and the historic town of St. Louis.
Three of his siblings and one of his cousins were aboard the wooden pirogue-style vessel that left Fass Boye for Europe on 10 July with 101 passengers.
“They desired to travel to Spain. They stated that they wished to depart, and I was unable to dissuade them because they had already made up their minds.
He believed they had all perished until Wednesday when he received a call from Cape Verde informing him of their rescue.
They were among 38 people, including children, who were rescued; the footage shows them being assisted ashore on Sal, some on stretchers. More than sixty individuals are believed to be missing at sea.
The archipelago is located approximately 600 kilometers (372 miles) off the coast of West Africa and is on the migration route to the Canary Islands, a Spanish territory viewed by many as a route to the European Union.
Mr. Ba says he still does not know the details of his relatives’ five-week journey because they were too disoriented to explain: “They didn’t have the strength to articulate what happened; they simply said, ‘We’re alive. They sounded quite feeble.”
However, as the conversation continued, he learned that not everyone had survived.
“One of my siblings, Ibrahima, called me from Cape Verde using one of the doctor’s phones.
He informed us that our brother Cheikhouna had been lost at sea,” I was astonished. We were nearby; he was a true combatant. He was married and had two children.
“On the day he left, he clasped my hands and said, ‘Brother, I have to go.'”
He was both my brother and my comrade.
After the disaster broke in Fass Boye, where most of the boat’s passengers were from, rage exploded Wednesday.
As a result of the dearth of opportunities for young people, some individuals set fire to the mayor’s residence.
This anguish is all too familiar to Mr. Ba, who has attempted to leave Senegal at least twice.
During his third year of university, he stated, “There was nothing for me here, so I decided to try to move to Europe via Morocco.”
However, things did not work out, and after nine months he was compelled to return home.
But he was determined to realize his goal of relocating to Europe, and he tried again at the end of June, just a few weeks ago, this time with Cheikhouna.
However, the effort faltered.
This voyage marked Cheikhouna’s second attempt to reach Europe by watercraft. “He left again three days after we returned,” Mr. Ba said.
“He was determined to leave Senegal because he had a family and there is nothing for us here.”
“We are fishermen, we labor the entire day, and we earn nothing. He simply desired to provide for his family and live a better existence.”
Mr. Ba knows boarding another boat to Europe is risky, yet he must do it for money.
“I cannot afford to travel by aircraft. It is preferable to pay $300,000 or $400,000 CFA ($480 or £375) to travel to Spain than to spend millions attempting to fly there.”
He claims to have no fear of submerging.
“Others have attempted this voyage and drowned, but that does not deter me. I am willing to assume this risk. Even if a boat were set to go today, I would take it.”
