Thieppe (Senegal) (AFP) – On the immense beach near the town of Thieppe, in the north-east of Senegal, Ibrahima Diaw confides her incomprehension while contemplating the broken canoe on which her son boarded in the hope of reaching Europe, before losing his life. “The sea is a mystery to me,” whispers the old man.

Published on: 10/11/2026 - 11:20

Rescuers have recovered 39 lifeless bodies from these fine sandy beaches since the boat sank on Friday. A provisional toll which is already one of the highest in recent years.

This umpteenth drama of illegal migration once again plunges this West African country into mourning, where many young people regularly try to reach the Spanish archipelago of the Canaries by the dangerous Atlantic route.

“If my son had informed me, I would have opposed him taking the canoe,” laments to AFP Mr. Diaw, a 75-year-old fashion designer wearing a green boubou, facing the ocean that took his child.

Like many parents or relatives of the castaways, he did not know the departure plan of his 25-year-old son and discovered, in disbelief, his death when his body washed up on a beach.

“Help parents”

In Senegal, mired in an economic crisis, where a large part of the youth are struggling to find prospects for the future, reaching Europe represents an Eldorado nourished by the stories of those who have succeeded in "the adventure", as they call this perilous journey.

But in the absence of visas to legally migrate, taking to the sea represents one of the last options.

In recent years, thousands of West Africans have died or disappeared at sea while trying to flee conflicts ravaging their country, the authoritarianism of juntas, or poverty.

Baye, whose first name has been changed to preserve his anonymity, was on board the boat and managed to swim to shore.

In this region of the world where it is the responsibility of children to provide for the needs of their elders, Baye resolved to brave the sea to “earn (his) living and help (his) parents”.

This 28-year-old Arabic graduate says he paid the sum of 400,000 CFA francs (around 600 euros) to board, a small fortune for this country.

The passengers stayed two days in the crowded canoe off the coast, waiting for the smugglers to bring them the engine and gasoline needed for the crossing. But the boat ended up being spotted by the Senegalese navy.

According to Baye's account, their canoe turned back towards the beach and hit a sandbar. Most of the passengers jumped into the water thinking they had arrived, but drowned.

At least 150 people were on board, according to the survivor, and it will be difficult to establish a definitive assessment of the dead and missing in this accident.

He also had not informed his parents of his plan: “If I had informed them, they certainly would not have let me go,” he confided to AFP.

Heavy toll

Located near the immense deserted beaches of north-west Senegal, the village of Potou paid a heavy price in this shipwreck.

On Monday, six people whose bodies had been recovered were buried there.

Protected from the exhausting heat under the branches of a neem tree, hundreds of people came to pay their last respects to Bass, 18, and Moussa, 20. Two brothers who died in the accident.

The Senegalese Minister of the Interior went in person to offer his condolences to the families of the victims.

He promised to track down smugglers, whom he called "modern-day slave traders", before pleading for more "circular migration", legal temporary migration programs based on need in Europe.

In front of the audience, people spoke one after the other to denounce irregular migration and its share of tragedies.

Djiby Sogue, the father of the two brothers, confides to AFP that he does not expect much from the authorities: "We do our best to retain the young people, but they too must help them find occupations to stay."

Disabled, Mr. Sogue relied on his sons to help him, the “pillars of the family” who “worked to give us food.”

But in Potou, “the children are discouraged because they earn absolutely nothing,” regrets this 52-year-old tailor.

As elsewhere in Senegal, fishing is becoming less and less abundant and crops are hardly profitable.

Sitting next to him in the courtyard of his brick house, his two eldest sons, aged 20 and 23, listen to their father.

“If we continue to live in the same situation as the one we are currently experiencing, I am afraid that the two sons I have left will take this path” of illegal migration, Mr. Sogue said.

Despite the misfortune that struck his family, Djiby Sogue dreams of sending his two other sons to Europe. For him, the legal route is “the only way to prevent children from taking to the sea”.

But in Brussels, the tone is not one of openness while the European Union is toughening its migration policy, European countries are drastically restricting the issuance of visas and are increasingly controlling their borders.

© 2026 AFP

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