Dakar, Senegal – Senegalese authorities have intercepted a wooden boat carrying 112 migrants attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, officials confirmed on Tuesday September 16, 2025.
The vessel, known locally as a pirogue, was spotted drifting without an engine off the coast of Dakar before local fishermen noticed it.
The fishermen lent the migrants a motor, which they used to approach the shore at Ouakam Beach, where Senegalese marines intercepted them.
“All the passengers were young men,” said Abdoul Aziz Gueye, Mayor of Dakar’s Ouakam district. He added that an investigation is underway to determine where the boat came from and how it ended up without an engine.
One of the migrants, speaking to Reuters from the beach where they were held under the watch of gendarmes, revealed that the group had been at sea for five days and had departed from neighboring Gambia.
This latest interception highlights the continued challenges of irregular migration along the dangerous Atlantic route, a path increasingly used by West African migrants trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands.
Despite stepped-up patrols and international cooperation, many continue to risk their lives in overcrowded and poorly equipped boats.
Experts say poverty, unemployment, political instability, and climate change impacts on farming and fishing are the main drivers pushing young people to attempt the dangerous crossing.
Authorities have reiterated their commitment to preventing such perilous journeys and are working with European partners to address both the security and humanitarian aspects of the migration crisis.
