Madar (Dakar) - Senegalese gendarmes and firefighters recovered about 20 bodies on Lompoul beach in the Kebemer department in the north of the country on Saturday 7 November 2026, a day after a boat carrying would-be irregular migrants was reported to have run aground offshore, the Senegalese Press Agency (APS) reported, citing a security source.
The bodies were found along the coast near the village of Tebene, in the Potou area, and taken for identification, the agency said, according to Xinhua. The circumstances of the incident and the number of people on board remain unclear.
State daily Le Soleil, quoted on Saturday evening by the Senego website, put the toll at 21 dead, saying most of the victims were believed to come from the communes of Leona and Thieppe and that the bodies had been taken to the Kebemer health district.
An initial toll on the evening of Friday 6 November reported four dead after the pirogue ran aground near the village of Tebene 2 in the commune of Thieppe, with several survivors fleeing through a belt of filao trees as soon as they reached the shore. The toll rose to seven by midday on Saturday after three more bodies were found, according to Senegalese radio RFM.
According to Seneweb, the boat had left Saint-Louis three days earlier, bound for the Spanish coast. Thieppe mayor Mouhamed Dia urged young people to realise that they "can succeed in this country", APS reported.
The tragedy comes as the Atlantic route to Spain's Canary Islands sees rising arrivals, with more than 3,200 migrants reaching the archipelago in five days in early November.
