Migrant boat sinking off Senegal kills at least 39

A wooden boat carrying migrants to Spain’s Canary Islands capsized off northern Senegal on Sunday, and the death toll rose to at least 39 on Monday after more bodies were found, the country’s emergency services said.

Only one passenger has been rescued alive, and several people are still believed to be missing, according to CBC News. The Interior Ministry said Sunday that at least 21 people had died. The BBC and Al Jazeera reported a toll of 34 earlier in the day, before the higher figure was announced. Authorities have not said how many people were on board.

The boat left Saint-Louis in northern Senegal and overturned offshore from the town of Kébémer, north of the capital, Dakar, according to CBC. The BBC reported that Saliou Diouf, founder of the Senegalese migrant aid group Boza Fii, told AFP that all of the bodies recovered so far were Senegalese. The nationalities of the others on board had not been established as search operations continued.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye offered condolences to the families and urged Senegalese not to risk their lives at sea. “We will relentlessly continue the fight against those who organise these crossings and the work that gives our young people reasons to hope here,” Faye said in a statement on X, as quoted by the BBC. The Interior Ministry said it would step up efforts against people-smuggling networks, including with neighbouring countries.

The crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest migration routes in the world. The Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders recorded 635 deaths on the Atlantic route between January and May 2026, the highest toll among the routes it monitors, the BBC reported. The group estimates that about 21 people die for every 100 who reach the islands.

Senegalese police intercepted another boat on Friday carrying 142 people, including 23 women and two babies, who came from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Nigeria, the BBC reported.

The sinking comes as the Canary Islands struggle with a surge in arrivals. A state of emergency was declared Saturday on El Hierro, where more than 3,300 people have landed in about 30 boats since the start of November, local authorities said. Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo called the situation “absolutely unsustainable,” according to Reuters, as cited by the BBC. Spain’s wider migration debate was the subject of our earlier report on Spain’s 600,000-migrant plan, which Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez defended at an EU summit.

The International Organization for Migration says limited jobs, family pressure and established smuggling networks push young Senegalese to leave. Nearly one in four young people in Senegal was unemployed in the second quarter of 2026, according to the national statistics agency, the BBC reported. The government is also under strain over its budget: as we reported Nov. 3, Senegal’s parliament rejected a budget key to a $2.2-billion IMF deal.

For Canadians, Global Affairs Canada currently advises travellers to exercise a high degree of caution in Senegal. Canada sent 28 athletes to the Youth Olympics in Dakar this fall, which we covered in our report on the opening of the Games.

Search operations were continuing Monday, and officials had not said whether the toll would rise further.

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