Hundreds of motorised canoes decorated with swirls of green, red and blue line the beach of Fass Boye, a small fishing village in northern Senegal. The handpainted boats, known as pirogues, used to return to shore brimming with fish, residents say. But as fish populations began to ebb over the last decade, the boats assumed a new role. Instead of carrying fishers out to sea, now they take them to Spain’s Canary Islands in search of economic opportunities.
On 16 August, one such boat that had departed from Fass Boye with 101 people onboard was found drifting off the coast of Cape Verde. It held only 38 survivors.
