Facing hunger, thirst and a rising number of deaths, some of the group of asylum seekers who were adrift for more than a month in the Atlantic resorted to breaking off chunks of the boat’s wooden seats in hopes of floating to land, a friend of three of the survivors has said.
More than 90 people are believed to have died before the rickety boat that had set off from Fass Boye, a seaside town in Senegal, was found off Cape Verde last week. Survivors said they left on 10 July aiming to reach Spain’s Canary Islands and spent weeks drifting at the mercy of powerful Atlantic trade winds.
This week, 37 of the 38 survivors were flown home to Senegal, some of them carried on stretchers as they were still weak from the ordeal. The other person remains hospitalised in Cape Verde.
Thimbo Samb, a well-known actor in Spain who is originally from Senegal and knows some of the survivors, said the boat ran into problems within days of departure. “They ran out of diesel in the middle of the ocean, without food or water, and started to die, one by one,” he said.
Samb spent much of his childhood learning how to fish in Fass Boye before making the treacherous boat crossing to Spain at the age of 17, driven by his dream of becoming an actor. In mid-July he heard rumblings about a boat laden with friends and acquaintances that had set off from the village on one of the world’s deadliest migration routes.
Days later he was fielding panicked phone calls from the village. “They said they hadn’t heard any news about the boat,” he said.
The missing boat was flagged to the authorities of four countries on 20 July, the NGO Walking Borders has said. Its founder, Helena Maleno Garzón, said: “From there we were checking to see what resources they put in motion for the search. They were insufficient, as is usual for the area.”
Garzón said she impressed on authorities that this was a race against the clock. “These people died gradually,” she said. “Which means that if there had been a proper search, using resources and collaboration, surely they would not have died.”
As Samb and Walking Borders implored authorities to keep searching, the travellers were at the whim of the Atlantic and at risk of hypothermia and dehydration.
“When the number of deaths started to climb, some began breaking off pieces of the boat, hoping they could float to land,” Samb said. “They were desperate, they had watched their friends die one after another. One of them said: ‘If we stay on this boat, we will die. We’re going to try to survive.’”
Those who remained in the boat watched them bob in the water for hours. “In the end they disappeared out of sight,” Samb said.
Last week the boat was spotted by a Spanish fishing vessel, the Zillarri, 150 nautical miles (277km) north of the Cape Verdean island of Sal. An official with Pevasa, the company that operates the Zillarri, said the survivors were in a “bad state”.
Among them were four children between the ages of 12 and 16, officials said. To date, seven bodies have been recovered.
The tragedy has left the small village of Fass Boye reeling. The atmosphere was one of “sadness, consternation, despair and total calm”, Moda Samb, a local councillor, told Agence France-Presse last week.
Reports have suggested that only one in three boats setting off from west Africa for the Canaries arrive there. According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 324 people, not including the victims from the boat found off Cape Verde, have died attempting to reach the Canary islands from west Africa since the beginning of 2023. Walking Borders has suggested the true number could be almost three times higher.
Thimbo Samb said the tremendous risks of the journey were unlikely to deter many who feel as if they have no other options as they grapple with unemployment and a sense there is little on offer for them in Senegal.
He pointed to a grim example: a boat recently left the shores near Fass Baye carrying dozens of people and has been missing for more than two weeks.
So far the returnees from the boat found off Cape Verde had not said anything about attempting the crossing again, Samb said. “But that being said, if tomorrow I tell you that one of the survivors is on the route, don’t be surprised.”
