About 20 of 50 would-be illegal migrants have been presumed dead, following a carnage that occured on Saturday night at sea around Nadankan, behind the State Central Prison, along Bond Road, Banjul. About 20 gallons of engine fuel were set ablaze on the canoe, which was carrying the migrants, after one of those on board reportedly attempted to locate a missing shoe with a cigarette lighter. The blaze started just before the boat capsized.

Relevant authorities involved in the search for the missing persons have confirmed that eight bodies were recovered less than 24 hours after the incident was reported.

Sources revealed that two of the survivors, identified as Lamin Fatty and Kawsu Barrow, have been arrested by police and are currently being detained pending the outcome the investigations.

Although the destination of the canoe is yet to be established, the Daily Observer has learnt that the migrants were apparently heading to the Canary Islands in Spain.

Crux

An officer of the Gambia Navy, Abou Daffeh, who led his men in the rescue operation, told the Daily Observer at the Navy base at Banjul Port that they jointly recovered three bodies from the sea on Sunday, with personnel of the Gambia Police Force.

“I was on duty, last Friday, when I received information about a boat that capsized behind the Central Prison at a place called Nadankan but our search operation proved futile.

The same information was also relayed to us last Sunday which was supported with evidence that two survivors were arrested by the police and that one of them was admitted at RVTH with the other currently in police custody,” he explained.

Daffeh said Lamin Fatty was then asked to accompany the navy rescue team to the scene. He said on their way to the scene, they came across a dead body, followed by the discovery of two more. He added that an additional two were discovered at the scene. 

He revealed that the police rescue team also discovered three bodies, bringing the total to eight bodies.

According to him, Lamin Fatty informed them that the 20 litre gallons, which they initially believed to be filled with water, were in fact filled with petrol. “He said one of gallons was spilling onto the canoe. He also said that one of the members of the crew lost his shoe and in the process of a search, lit a lighter, which set the whole canoe ablaze,” he added.

The navy officer told this paper that the captain of the canoe is still at large, as are other members of the group. He said they were told by Lamin Fatty that only 30 managed to escape, adding that the other 20 disappeared into the sea. According to him, no discovery has been made since Sunday, November 11.

Our reporters, who went out to delve into the circumstances surrounding the incident, spotted relatives of the deceased at the RVTH Mortuary in Banjul.

The incident comes at a time when multi-national cooperation and efforts are being put together to curb the increasing flow of illegal migration, which continues to claim young lives, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, including The Gambia.

Some European countries, including Spain have said that they cannot cope with the influx of Africans - about 24,000 have made the often perilous sea crossing to the Canary Islands this year.
 
'Humanitarian crisis'

Spain describes the influx of more than 20,000 migrants to the Canary Islands in 2006 as a humanitarian crisis.

The Canaries have become a main point of entry for illegal immigrants seeking to reach the EU, following a crackdown on migration to the North African Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in 2005.

The recent surge has prompted the head of the Canaries' government to call the influx Spain's worst humanitarian crisis since the civil war of the 1930s.

The EU's borders agency Frontex launched an operation last month to turn back small boats carrying migrants from Senegal, Cape Verde and Mauritania to the Canary Islands.

But Spain says the operation is not big enough and took too long to get going.

Migrants take to the seas crammed into open wooden boats for a crossing of up to 10 days.

Up to 3,000 of them are believed to have died during the journey.