After a boat carrying migrants was discovered off the coast of Cape Verde in West Africa, it is believed that more than 60 people are dead.
Video of the 38 rescues, some of whom were carried ashore on stretchers, showed that they included youngsters.
It is believed that almost everyone on board the boat, which was at sea for more than a month, was from Senegal.
To help stop more deaths, Cape Verde officials have asked for international action on migration.
Police informed the AFP news agency that the vessel was initially noticed on Monday. Although initial reports claimed the boat had sunk, it was later revealed that it had been discovered adrift.
A Spanish fishing boat saw the wooden pirogue-style boat some 320 kilometres (200 miles) off Sal, in the Cape Verde islands, and immediately contacted the authorities, according to the police.
Four children, ages 12 to 16, are among the survivors, according to an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) official.
The boat departed the Senegalese fishing community of Fasse Boye on July 10 with 101 people on board, according to survivors quoted by Senegal’s foreign ministry on Tuesday.
Nearly everyone on the boat had grown up in the area, according to elected official Moda Samb, who also noted that several local families were still awaiting word on whether their relatives were among the survivors.
The ministry declared that it was coordinating with Cape Verdean authorities to set up the repatriation of Senegalese people.
According to reports, the passengers also hail from Sierra Leone and, in one instance, Guinea-Bissau.
The survivors were being cared for, according to Jose Moreira, a health officer on Sal, with an emphasis on rehydration and tests for illnesses like malaria.
We are aware that migration concerns are global challenges that need for international cooperation, extensive discussion, and a worldwide plan, according to Health Minister Filomena Goncalves.
Most importantly, “we all – all the nations – have to sit down at the table and see what we can do” to prevent other maritime fatalities.
Safe migration routes, according to IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli, are “sorely lacking” and provide “room for smugglers and traffickers to put people on these deadly journeys”.
According to reports, the group was aboard a boat resembling this one when 15 migrants drowned in an incident in July.
It’s possible that the survivors wound up in Cape Verde, but it wasn’t their original location.
The archipelago is 600 kilometres (370 miles) off the coast of West Africa and is a major migratory route to the Canary Islands, a Spanish enclave that many people view as a gateway to the EU. It is one of the riskiest voyages a migrant may take, according to the IOM.
As is always the case with irregular migration, exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, but at least 67,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands between 2020 and 2023.
Just over 2,500 people died during that time. The IOM notes that this number includes all registered deaths. The actual number may be far higher given the route’s erratic and covert characteristics.
What motivates people to leave their homes and take such a risky voyage, then? Poverty is frequently considered to be a significant issue. Many people view migration to Europe as a way to a better life and to send money back home to help their families.
But there are also other elements at work. A large portion of West Africa is becoming more insecure, and Islamist insurgencies and coups are making an already difficult situation even worse.
In Senegal, there have been reports of violent crackdowns by the government that resulted in the imprisonment of opposition figures. Despite the recent announcement that President Macky Sall would not run for a third term, emotions are still high.
Ultimately, there are just as many motivations to relocate as there are migrants. Each person has a unique drive and background. It appears that at least 60 of them met a tragic end in the Atlantic.