At least 140 Europe-bound migrants drowned off the coast of Senegal when their boat caught fire and capsized, marking the deadliest shipwreck recorded this year, the U.N. migration agency said on Thursday. The boat carrying 200 people sank a few hours after leaving the fishing town of Mbour, 100 km south of the capital Dakar, on Saturday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. The Senegalese and Spanish navies and fishermen rescued some 60 people, but "at least 140 people have drowned", IOM said in a statement. But with fewer options, migrants seeking an escape from poverty or conflict are again taking the longer, 1,400-km(870-mile) sea route to the Spanish islands off the Moroccan coast, often in rickety, overcrowded boats with unreliable engines. Fourteen boats carrying 663 migrants left Senegal for the islands in September, over a quarter of which experienced an incident or shipwreck, the IOM said.

Source: Libya Today October 29, 2020 15:56 UTC