Searches continue after deadly sinking off Senegal kills 21, one survivor found

At least 21 people have died after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Senegal, the country's interior ministry said on Sunday 8 November 2026. One person was found alive, and search teams are still looking for further survivors.

Key facts

• At least 21 people died, according to Senegal's interior ministry.
• One person was found alive as of Saturday evening; searches for more survivors are continuing.
• The boat sank off Kébémer, a town north of Dakar.
• The ministry did not say how many people were believed to have been on board.
• Senegal's interior minister is due to visit the site on Monday.

What happened?

Senegal's interior ministry announced the sinking in a post on X on Sunday. The ministry said that, as of Saturday evening, one person had been found alive and that teams had been mobilised to keep searching for any other possible survivors.

The ministry did not specify how many people were believed to have been on board the vessel, and no further details about those who died were given.

Where did the boat sink?

The ministry said the boat went down off the coast of the town of Kébémer, north of the capital, Dakar. Senegal's interior minister will visit the site on Monday.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye offered condolences to the survivors and the families of the victims in a statement on X. "No one should set out with the sea as their only horizon," he said, adding that the country would continue fighting those who organise such crossings.

How dangerous is this route?

The Atlantic migration route from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world, according to the Spanish rights group Walking Borders. The group said at least 635 people died in the first five months of 2026.

Walking Borders also said that, for every 100 migrants who reached the Canary Islands in that period, around 21 died.

Other recent incidents on the same stretch of sea include July, when the United Nations refugee agency said nearly 150 people died or went missing within a single week as boats sank off Mauritania while heading towards Europe; almost 400 people were rescued. On New Year's Eve 2025, a boat carrying more than 200 migrants sank off the coast of Gambia, and Red Cross officials reported that 44 bodies were recovered.

What happens next

Search teams remain mobilised to look for further survivors, and Senegal's interior minister is scheduled to visit the site on Monday. The interior ministry has not said how many people were on the boat, so the final number of victims is not yet known.