By Kemo Kanyi
The Voice Newspaper can confirm that at least 20 youth from Bakau who left the shores of The Gambia by boat with destination being Europe, have passed away. These youth were all from Kachikaly, a suburb of Bakau. This medium earlier reported the agonies of their parents, who had not heard from them, for over a month since they embarked on the perilous trip.
At the time of filing this story, several families in Bakau were reportedly mourning their children, who were believed to have drowned at sea, after leaving the shores of The Gambia more than 40 days ago without communication. The boat, carrying these migrants from Bakau, is believed to have departed M’bour in Senegal on the 10th of August, 2024 and sank before reaching the international waters.
A source familiar with the situation told The Voice that:‘’Theboat has been found. It set sail from Bakau and anchored in M’bour when it developed mechanical issues. Some of the youth returned to the country after this while others continued on the ill-fated journey.’’
According to him, close to 20 people from Bakau Kachikallywere involved.
“Since the information came in on Saturday, September 21st20224, I have confirmed from two compounds each of whom lost four young men and compounds were shown to me whose relatives were also among the youth in the boat. The community is in mourning,’’ he further recounted.
Another source, who sought anonymity, showed to The Voice pictures of two siblings; a boy and a girl and informed us that both shared the same parents whilst averring that most family members have admitted to her of their loss.
It would be recalled that in our publication some days ago, some parents from Bakau had expressed their desire to know whether their children were still alive or dead, urging the government to come to their aid by conducting a thorough investigation to help in clearing their doubts.
Incidentally, on Monday 23 September 2024, Ibrahima Sowe, a spokesperson for Senegal Military said in a statement that: ‘’ The Senegalese navy whilst on patrol on Sunday evening, some 70 kilometers (38 nautical miles) from Dakar found a boat drifting with so far 30 decomposing bodies had been counted’’.
To shed more light on this, The Voice contacted MamandingDibba, Public Relations Officer of the Gambia Immigration Department for comments on the above. He promised to get back to us but unfortunately as at the time of going to press, we didn’t hear from him.