By Mor Mbaye Cissé
Seneweb
A boat carrying 210 migrants attempting to reach Spain by sea, which had departed from The Gambia, landed on the beach at Ngaparou, near Saly in Senegal after two of its three engines failed at sea.
Twelve passengers were apprehended by the Mbour gendarmes. No loss of life was reported.
The pirogue set off on Saturday, 16th May from Foñi Ndemban around 8pm. It had on board 210 irregular immigrants made up of Gambians, Guineans and Senegalese.
According to statements from those arrested, each passenger had paid 400,000 CFA francs to a certain Lamin, an elderly man whose last name could not be confirmed, who had housed them in his home in Ndemban before boarding. He is believed to have organised the trip.
After nearly 22 hours at sea, on Sunday around 6pm, two of the boat’s three engines simultaneously failed off the coast of Senegal. Panicked, most of the passengers decided to abandon the crossing and demanded to return to shore, according to Senegalese media reports.
The boat, now propelled by a single engine, managed to land at Ngaparou beach where the occupants dispersed before the arrival of the local population.
Alerted, the gendarmes from the local brigade managed to apprehend 12 of the migrants and seized the boat.
