Senegal migrant boat death toll rises to 39

The death toll from a migrant boat sinking off northwestern Senegal rose to 39 on Monday, authorities said.

Louga regional Governor Ndeye Nguenar Mbodj raised the toll by four after it had stood at 35 on Sunday evening. She said the latest bodies were found in a very advanced state of decomposition and that authorisation had been requested to bury them on-site.

The migrants had been travelling in a wooden pirogue. The damaged boat was seen broken in two on a deserted stretch of coastline in Thieppe, in northwestern Senegal, where firefighters and gendarmes were deployed.

Information gathered by AFP at the scene indicated that the victims were from the region, particularly Thieppe and the village of Potou.

Earlier, emergency services said one survivor had been found and that the toll had changed since Friday. An interior ministry source had said the number of dead was likely to rise.

Senegalese authorities also said they intercepted 142 migrants on Friday on a similar small boat heading for Spain. Police said the group included 23 women, two babies and two other children, and that the migrants came from Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Nigeria.

Spanish authorities on the Canary Island of El Hierro declared an emergency on Saturday after a surge in migrant boat arrivals. Since the start of November, island authorities said more than 3,300 people had arrived aboard around 30 boats.