At least 17 bodies recovered after a boat capsizes in Senegal’s capital #bodies #recovered #boat #capsizes #Senegals #capital

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — At least 17 people were found dead after a boat capsized in Senegal’s capital, said local officials on Monday.

The bodies were discovered by the navy early in the morning and are believed to be migrants because of the type of boat they were in, said Ndeye Top Gueye, the mayor of the Ouakam neighborhood of Dakar where the bodies were found.

“Because of the size and shape, we know that it’s a pirogue (a long wooden boat),” she said.

FILE - Senegal's President Macky Sall arrives for the closing session of the New Global Financial Pact Summit, Friday, June 23, 2023 in Paris. Senegalese President Sall declared Monday evening, July 3, that he will not run for a third term in next year's elections, ending years of uncertainty over his political future that had helped fuel deadly opposition protests last month. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly, Pool, File)

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A riot police officer shots tear gas at demonstrators during a protest at the Cheikh Anta Diop University campus in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, June 1, 2023. Senegal opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was convicted Thursday of corrupting youth but acquitted on charges of raping a woman who worked at a massage parlor and making death threats against her. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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Demonstrators gather on a street during clashes with police at a neighborhood in Dakar, Senegal, Saturday, June 3, 2023. The clashes first broke out, later this week, after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was convicted of corrupting youth and sentenced to two years in prison. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s president has ordered an investigation to determine who was responsible for protests by supporters of a political opponent that turned deadly last week but said he was open to consulting with the parties involved.

While this is the first time bodies have washed up in the neighborhood migrant deaths at sea are becoming more common in Senegal, she said. “It’s not the first time, it’s the umpteenth time. The government needs to take countermeasures.”

It was unclear where the people were coming from, what nationalities they were or where they were going. But the Atlantic migration route is one of the deadliest in the world, with nearly 800 people dying or going missing in the first half of 2023, according to Walking Borders a Spanish aid group.

In recent years, the Canary Islands have become one of the main destinations for people trying to reach Spain, with a peak of more than 23,000 migrants arriving in 2020, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry.

The boats mainly travel from Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania, with fewer coming from Senegal. However, locals and officials say there’s been a surge of boats leaving Senegal this year.

Factors such as ailing economies, a lack of jobs, extremist violence, political unrest and the impact of climate change push migrants to risk their lives on overcrowded boats to reach the Canaries. Last month in Senegal, at least 23 people were killed during weeks of protests between opposition supporters and police.

At the beach where the bodies were found, Associated Press reporters saw rescuers and volunteers working together to pull the capsized boat ashore. Clothes from the deceased washed onto the side and lay in a pile while authorities coordinated a response.

The incident Monday is the latest in a string of rescued boats and bodies found along Senegal’s coast.

Earlier this month eight migrants were found dead after a boat capsized off the coast of northern Senegal as it tried to reach Europe, and seven people were found dead and 50 rescued on another vessel discovered off the coast of the northern town of Saint-Louis. At least 90 people are feared missing from that boat.