By Kemo Kanyi
Several Parents from Bakau have spoken to this medium voicing emotional discomfort about missing children who allegedly travelled through the Mediterranean Sea on 10th August 2024, and are still not heard from.
“We did not hear any news from them nor about them was Tuesday, September 10, 2024, the 30th day since they left. My oldest son’s wife was among the youth who travelled through that said boat. I don’t know how many people were on board the boat, but we did not have any clear information about them yet,” Nyaranding Ceesay, a Bakauresident, who claims to be a mother-in-law to one of the passengers on the ill-fated boats whose where about are still unknown told The Voicenewspaper in a telephone conversation on Tuesday, 10th September 2024.
Another Bakau parent named Sambou Jaiteh stated in distress “Four young people left our home were in that boat, and currently we are in distress because we don’t know whether they are still alive or not. I was in Baddibu Njaba Kunda when they left. After my arrival back home, I enquired about them, and I was informed that they had travelled through the irregular migration journey (Back Way).”
Sambou added that her foster child, grandchild, and the son of his brother are also part of this ill-fated journey.
Jaiteh is calling on the authorities to come to their aid in finding the whereabouts of their children, whether dead or alive.
When contacted to shed more light on the matter of the missing boat and youth, Mamanding S. Dibba, Public Relations Officer (PRO), Gambia Immigration Department, told this reporter in a telephone conversation that his department has yet to receive any information about the boat in question. He further assured that the immigration department will do its best to inform The Voice Newspaper about any progress established in its findings.
Irregular migration particularly through the Mediterranean Sea has been on the upsurge in recent years. Despite high fatality and the ensuing dangers, many Gambian youth have and continue to attempt to travel through the perilous route to Europe in search of greener pastures.
