Ghosts of the Atlantic: In Senegal, a bid to identify missing migrants – Revisited
Twenty years after the 2006 migration crisis, the Atlantic route between Senegal and the Canary Islands remains one of the most dangerous for migrants. In 2024, more than 10,000 people died or went missing there. With most victims dying anonymously, families and associations are trying to give them a name. FRANCE 24’s Sarah Sakho and Simon Martin report.
During the 2006 migration crisis, hundreds of canoe-shaped small boats attempted to cross the Atlantic from the Senegalese coast to the Canary Islands. Their slogan was “Barça ou barsaax” – “Barcelona or death”. Those words became reality for thousands of people whose lives were lost, swallowed up in the waves of the exodus. Twenty years later, the crisis has become even worse. 2024 saw a record high number of deaths on the Atlantic route: more than 10,000 dead or missing, even more than in 2006.
Watch moreSenegalese migrants attempt dangerous crossing to Spain’s Canary Islands
For the majority of victims, their tragedy is anonymous. Due to a lack of resources and any real political will, the shipwrecked are almost never identified. This also the case for bodies found in Senegal, which are hastily buried in mass graves, leaving behind thousands of families unable to mourn. But voices are now beginning to be raised. Associations and relatives are mobilising, on the ground and on social media, to give these dead migrants a name and to break the cycle of exile.
Crédito: Link de origem