At least 21 dead after boat carrying migrants sinks off Senegal coast, interior ministry says

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — At least 21 people died after a boat carrying migrants sank off Senegal's coast, the country's interior ministry said on Sunday.

The ministry said in a post on X that as of Saturday evening one person had been found alive, and that teams had been mobilized to continue searching for any more possible survivors. It did not specify how many people were believed to have been on board.

The ministry said the boat sank off the coast of the town of Kébémer, north of Dakar. It added that Senegal’s interior minister will visit the site on Monday.

The Atlantic migration route from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. At least 635 people died in the first five months of 2026, according to the Spanish rights group Walking Borders.

The group said for every 100 migrants that made it to the Canary Islands in that period, around 21 died.

In July, the United Nations refugee agency said nearly 150 people died or went missing within the space of one week from boats that sank off Mauritania as they were trying to make their way to Europe. It added that almost 400 people were rescued.

On New Year's Eve 2025, a boat carrying more than 200 migrants sank off the coast of Gambia . Red Cross officials reported that 44 bodies were recovered.