At least 140 migrants drown in the deadliest shipwreck of 2020 – WiscNews
At least 140 migrants have drowned off Senegal in the deadliest shipwreck recorded this year, the United Nations migration agency said in a statement.
At least 140 migrants have drowned off Senegal in the deadliest shipwreck recorded this year, the United Nations migration agency said in a statement Thursday.
The vessel was carrying about 200 people, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) statement. It added that, “according to media sources, the Senegalese and Spanish navies, and fishermen who were nearby rescued 59 people and retrieved the remains of 20 others.”
According to the IOM, the boat was bound for Spain’s Canary Islands but caught fire a few hours after departing Mbour, a coastal town in western Senegal, before capsizing near Saint-Louis, on the country’s northwest coast.
“The IOM is deeply saddened by this recent tragedy, which follows four shipwrecks recorded in the Central Mediterranean last week and another in the English Channel,” the statement said. The number of migrant boat departures from West Africa to the Canary Islands has more than quadrupled this year to 11,000, according to IOM estimates.
“We call for unity between governments, partners and the international community to dismantle trafficking and smuggling networks that take advantage of desperate youth,” IOM Senegal Chief of Mission Bakary Doumbia said in the statement.
The government of Senegal and the IOM have arranged a mission to travel to Saint-Louis to assess the needs of survivors and provide immediate assistance.
Fourteen boats carrying 663 migrants attempted to make this journey in September alone — over a quarter of which were shipwrecked or had an incident, the IOM said.
Senegalese President Macky Sall gave his condolences earlier in the day to the families of 16 victims of a motor accident that occurred in the Thiès region, east of the capital Dakar.
“I call for more caution and responsibility on the roads,” he said in a tweet.
Photos: Scenes from Zeta’s path as it moves through the Southeast
Decorative landscaped trees on the Golden Nugget Biloxi Casino and Resort campus in Biloxi, Miss., are flooded from the storm surge of Hurricane Zeta, Wednesday night Oct. 28, 2020. (Lukas Flippo/The Sun Herald via AP)
Patrons of the Golden Nugget Biloxi Casino and Resort in Biloxi, Miss., look out at the storm surge as it floods the first floor of their parking garage, Wednesday night, Oct. 28, 2020, as Hurricane Zeta made landfall on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. (Lukas Flippo /The Sun Herald via AP)
A vehicle’s lights are on as first floor parking garage is flooded from the storm surge of Hurricane Zeta, at the Golden Nugget Biloxi Casino and Resort in Biloxi, Miss., Wednesday night Oct. 28, 2020. (Lukas Flippo /The Sun Herald via AP)
A large tree limb, which snapped as Hurricane Zeta moved through New Orleans, rests on power lines in the city’s Carrollton neighborhood on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Kevin McGill)
Randall Bordelon, far right, looks around the kitchen in his fishing camp near Chauvin, La., on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020 after Hurricane Zeta destroyed the roof. Gov. John Bel Edwards says officials are still assessing the extent of Zeta’s damage across the southeastern parishes. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)
Debris piles up after Hurricane Zeta passed Cocodrie, La., on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Gov. John Bel Edwards says officials are still assessing the extent of Zeta’s damage across the southeastern parishes. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)
Randall Bordelon, far right, looks around the kitchen in his fishing camp near Chauvin, La., on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020 after Hurricane Zeta destroyed the roof. Gov. John Bel Edwards says officials are still assessing the extent of Zeta’s damage across the southeastern parishes. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)
A house is damaged from Hurricane Zeta in Cocodrie, La., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Gov. John Bel Edwards says officials are still assessing the extent of Zeta’s damage across the southeastern parishes. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)
People look at a downed part of a tree after Hurricane Zeta made landfall, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, in New Orleans. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Residents come out to assess the damage from Hurricane Zeta on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020, near the restaurant Patois in New Orleans. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
With the electricity out, people sit on the front porch of a home in New Orleans and look out at damage in the area, as Hurricane Zeta’s eye wall passes near the city, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
A passing car’s headlights illuminate a darkened Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Hurricane Zeta passed through Wednesday leaving much of the city and metro area without power. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Patrons resume their socializing at Cuban Cigar Bar in the French Quarter in New Orleans, after power was restored Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Hurricane Zeta passed through today leaving much of the city and metro area without power. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Patrons resume their socializing at Cuban Cigar Bar in the French Quarter in New Orleans, after power was restored Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Hurricane Zeta passed through today leaving much of the city and metro area without power. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
A toppled tree lays on top of a car in Talladega, Ala., on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020, as Tropical Storm Zeta sped across the Southeast. (Cameron Keith via AP)
A person and dog walk past an unoccupied structure that collapsed the previous day as Hurricane Zeta swept through New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. The storm left much of the city and metro area without power. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Hurricane Zeta winds make the grass that Teddy Johnson, 58, was cutting from a ditch at his family home on Flood Street in New Orleans fly in the air on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Johnson said he was quickly clearing the ditch so that any flood or rain water from the storm could drain more quickly. Johnson, who lives in Houston, Texas, moved there after Hurricane Katrina, but returns to his family’s New Orleans home to help maintain it. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Dark clouds from Hurricane Zeta loom ominously over a statue of a bull at the Santa Fe Cattle Co. restaurant in McComb, Miss., ahead of the storm’s landfall on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (Matt Williamson/The Enterprise-Journal via AP)
Even though electrical service is on in the Central Business District of New Orleans, parts of Central City and Uptown are without power after Hurricane Zeta barreled through the city Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Atlanta firefighters transport a man they freed who was trapped in his third-floor bedroom after a tree came crashing down on a home on Brookview Drive in Atlanta, as Tropical Storm Zeta sped across the Southeast Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. (John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Authorities work to clear a fallen tree that is blocking a lane on I-20 at Langhorn Street in Atlanta on Thursday morning, Oct. 29, 2020. Tropical Storm Zeta sped across the Southeast on Thursday, leaving a trail of damage and more than 2 million homes and businesses in the dark in Atlanta. (John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Atlanta firefighters transport a man they freed who was trapped in his third-floor bedroom after a tree came crashing down on a home on Brookview Drive in Atlanta, as Tropical Storm Zeta sped across the Southeast Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. (John Spink/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
Workers remove debris from an unoccupied structure that collapsed yesterday as Hurricane Zeta passed through in New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. The storm left much of the city and metro area without power. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Surrounded by storm surge, residents of Cocodrie, La., survey the damage to their homes and boats following Hurricane Zeta on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Gov. John Bel Edwards says officials are still assessing the extent of Zeta’s damage across the southeastern parishes. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)
Mail delivery driver Natalie Bergeron sits in her truck as she checks on Ray Guilmino, who stands in front of his house south in Cocodrie, La., where part of it was overturned by strong winds and water from Hurricane Zeta the morning after the storm on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Gov. John Bel Edwards says officials are still assessing the extent of Zeta’s damage across the southeastern parishes. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)
A fisherman, top right, tries to untangle his nets that got caught in trees along a bayou the morning after Hurricane Zeta passed Cocodrie, La., on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020. Gov. John Bel Edwards says officials are still assessing the extent of Zeta’s damage across the southeastern parishes. (Chris Granger/The Advocate via AP)
Perry Menesses tosses a rope to Will Guillot as they wanted to secure their boat with more rope after hearing that Hurricane Zeta has increased in strength, in Violet, La., Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Hurricane Zeta is expected to make landfall this afternoon as a category 2 storm. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Minnie Lewis fishes for crabs before the wind and waves kick up, in Chalmette, La., Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Hurricane Zeta is expected to make landfall this afternoon as a category 2 storm. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Jane McDow walks with her dog ‘Duke’ along the Lake Pontchartrain seawall in New Orleans, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. Hurricane Zeta is expected to make landfall this afternoon as a category 2 storm. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Dozens of boats trailered behind humvees are parked and ready to roll as Louisiana National Guardsmen gather in front of Jackson Barracks as the New Orleans area prepares for Hurricane Zeta on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
CNN’s Fanny Bobille contributed to this report
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