DAKAR (Voice of Russia): At least 21 people were killed when a boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe illegally capsized near the coast of Senegal, a West African country, while one person was rescued alive. A rescue operation is under way to search for the missing after the accident.
According to a foreign news agency, Senegal’s Interior Ministry said in a statement issued on Sunday that the boat met with the accident near the coast, about 180 kilometres north of the capital Dakar.
The Interior Ministry said that by Saturday evening, rescue teams had recovered the bodies of 21 people from the sea, while one person was rescued safely.
Officials said the people on board the boat were trying to travel to other countries illegally, but the total number of people on the boat is not yet known.
Search and rescue operations are continuing in the sea after the accident to trace any more possible survivors.
It is worth noting that every year a large number of migrants take the dangerous sea route from West Africa to reach Spain’s Canary Islands; several boats have capsized during this journey, in which thousands of people have lost their lives.
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