At least 56 people died in a canoe rescued in Cape Verde, after a month at sea, with 101 travelers on board, read a Red Cross report to which Lusa had access this Wednesday.
“Until they were found, they drifted for 41 days and after the seventh day they ran out of provisions, which cost the lives of more than 50% of the occupants who were thrown into the sea due to the decomposition of the bodies,” the document details. , citing the commander of the fishing boat that rescued and listened to the survivors.
This is the first known report of someone arriving alive on the island of Sal, after leaving from the north of Senegal, from the port of Saint Louis, in the border area with Mauritania, on July 7, with 101 migrants. the majority of Senegalese nationality and two from Guinea-Bissau, says the report.
The data on the place and date of departure differ from those released this Thursday by the Senegalese government, which points to a departure on July 10 from Fass Boye, a coastal town halfway between Dakar and Saint Louis.
Other data from the Red Cross is in line with the official information that has been made public: a Spanish-flagged fishing boat (flag indicating nationality) docked at the port of Palmeira, on the island of Sal, with 45 African immigrants, this Tuesday, almost noon.
The dugout they were taken from was found about 150 miles (241 kilometers) from the island.
“Of the 45 migrants, seven arrived as corpses and were immediately transferred to the morgue of the Ramiro Alves Figueira Regional Hospital for possible identification. Of the total number of survivors, 38, all male, 37 Senegalese and one from Guinea-Bissau. , there are four surviving adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16,” it read.
The end of a tragic month across the Atlantic Ocean began to take shape on Monday.
The canoe was sighted on August 14 at around 07:00 local time (09:00 in Lisbon) and the fishing vessel was authorized to tow it to one of the Cape Verdean ports, given its proximity.
However, with the tides, the mooring lines began to give way and the crew decided to move the migrants to the fishing grounds.
“There were 39 survivors and six corpses, one of which died on the way to the port of Palmeira,” it added.
Vítor Sousa, a journalist with Rádio Televisão of Cape Verde, said TSF that by the time they reached the island of Sal the survivors had scarcely the strength to stay on their feet.
“38 very weakened survivors arrived and seven more dead. [os sobreviventes] they are receiving assistance. Thirty-two are staying at the Ramiro Figueira school, in Espargos. There are six who are in the hospital and two of them require attention. They are under the supervision of the Red Cross and Civil Protection and some of them were also identified today, and the work of identifying these migrants will continue. It is a job that takes time and the Senegalese associations are also on the ground helping in the process”, he explained.
In statements to Rádio Voz da América, Paulo Rocha, Minister of the Interior Administration of Cape Verde, assured that all the necessary support and assistance is being provided until the repatriation to the countries of origin begins.
“We will continue to provide humanitarian assistance and all the care that, from a health point of view, is required until complete recovery. The national authorities will take all the measures that are imposed to guarantee the safety of those who come, but also at our borders,” he said.
The minister added that Cape Verde does not have the conditions to create reception centers that operate permanently.
“There are other issues that are at the diplomatic level and that are being discussed, but we do not consider the possibility of maintaining permanent reception centers here, because it does not make sense given our condition, also as an archipelagic country, with all our problems,” he added.
The Red Cross also reports on the work that a multidisciplinary team of Cape Verdean authorities has made known: it was at the port to receive the migrants, with the health services, they prepared several tents, where they provided medical care.
A total of 16 required further care due to their state of dehydration, having been immediately sent to the regional hospital and the rest were welcomed in a school where accommodation was improvised.
Senegal is a country of origin and transit for migratory flows to Europe, whose Atlantic route has once again gained strength with the closure of borders caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated economic crisis.
The Minister of Health of Cape Verde, Filomena Gonçalves, called on Tuesday for greater international coordination to stop the deaths of migrants at sea.
In November, Cape Verde and Senegal expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation and work together with other African states to combat illegal immigration, days after a boat carrying 66 Senegalese immigrants ran aground on the island of Sal.
In January, another canoe reached the island of Boa Vista with 90 African immigrants on board and two already dead.
At the time, the president of Cape Verde, José Maria Neves, called for the creation of conditions to prevent the arrival of migrants and promote their follow-up.
* News updated at 7:20 am
Source: TSF
