However, quoted by Metro Dakar website, Babacar Senghour, president of the Local Council of Artisanal Fishing in Mbour, where the tragedy occurred, indicated that 89 corpses have been recovered so far.

Other sources previously indicated that several people were rescued alive, without specifying numbers.

Following the barge mishap, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye promised yesterday to apply severe measures against those responsible for organizing boat crossings to try to reach the Spanish islands of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

After expressing on behalf of the people his deepest condolences for the loss of human lives, the President said that this tragedy is the result of human trafficking networks, which, in his opinion, exploit the desperation of young people by selling them false dreams of a better future.

In the last 10 years at least 4,800 migrants died or were reported missing in the risky crossing between West Africa and the Canary Islands, according to the International Organization for Migration.

ef/abo/mem/obf