Several people were killed in the incident, the police reported, supported by the Senegalese Police, whose version stated that the disaster occurred on Monday. Thirty-eight people, including a Bissau-Guinean, were rescued alive off Cape Verde.

Statistics show that more than 60 people are missing in the Atlantic Ocean, dead by drowning or in the jaws of sharks, as 101 passengers were on board the boat when departing.

The shipwrecks of flimsy boats, which sub-Saharan African citizens use to reach European shores, are an almost daily tragedy with a high death toll.

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