36 Days Drifting with the Dead

A realistic editorial reconstruction of the wooden pirogue that carried 101 men and boys from Senegal before 38 survivors were rescued after 36 days at sea. (Digital Illustration: GoBeyondLocal)

36 Days Drifting with the Dead

On July 10, 2023, Papa Dieye, a 19-year-old fisherman from Senegal, boarded a large wooden pirogue at Fass Boye. He was travelling with relatives and friends who hoped to reach Spain and find work in the Canary Islands. The crossing was expected to take about a week.

There were 101 men and boys aboard the boat. Among them were Fernando Ncula and Sadja Mané, two men from Guinea-Bissau. Ncula stayed close to Mané because he spoke little Wolof, the language used by many of the Senegalese passengers.

On the fifth day, strong winds pushed the pirogue away from its intended route. The men argued about turning back. The captain wanted to continue, while some passengers wanted to return to Senegal.

By the tenth day, the fuel had run out. The pirogue was still far from the Canary Islands. The men used wooden planks as makeshift oars and took turns trying to move the boat. The wind kept carrying them away from their destination.

Back in Fass Boye, relatives began to worry. The usual crossing from Senegal to the Canary Islands could take about a week. Ten days had passed without news from the boat, and families and migration activists began seeking help to locate the missing pirogue.

Inside the boat, food and fresh water were running low. The men drank seawater despite the danger. Hunger and thirst weakened them, and some began experiencing hallucinations. With the engine out of fuel, the pirogue had no reliable means of returning towards Senegal or reaching Spain.

Around the 25th day, Mané died, according to Ncula. Ncula stayed beside his friend for some time after his death. Other men had also died by then, leaving the survivors to deal with the bodies while the pirogue continued across the Atlantic.

As the days passed, some men began seeing land where there was only ocean. About a month into the voyage, four men believed they could reach shore. They gathered empty water containers and wooden planks before jumping from the pirogue. They disappeared into the Atlantic.

Other men later made similar attempts. Some believed they could swim to safety. Others had become too weak to continue aboard the pirogue. Those who stayed watched people disappear into the water as the boat continued drifting away from the route towards Spain.

Relatives on land had little information about the men. The pirogue had taken a longer route to avoid maritime patrols, leaving the passengers far from the normal crossing route and without a reliable way to control the direction of the boat.

On August 14, 2023, a Spanish fishing vessel called Zillarri spotted the pirogue about 290 kilometres northeast of Cape Verde. The boat was still far from the Canary Islands.

Abdou Aziz Niang, a Senegalese mechanic aboard the Spanish fishing vessel, saw the passengers and spoke to them in Wolof. He asked what they were doing there. They explained that they had left Senegal and encountered problems during the crossing. When he asked how long they had been at sea, they told him 36 days.

The Zillarri moved around the pirogue and threw bottles of water towards the passengers. The survivors reached for them. The Spanish captain contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Spain and provided the boat's location. Niang also contacted the Senegalese navy while authorities in Spain, Cape Verde and Senegal discussed where the survivors should be taken.

The fishing vessel was instructed to take the survivors towards Palmeira, a port on the Cape Verde island of Sal. The crew attached ropes and began towing the wooden pirogue, but the hull had deteriorated during the long time at sea and started breaking apart.

The crew abandoned the towing attempt and began pulling the survivors from the pirogue onto the Spanish vessel. They also recovered the bodies of those who had died during the crossing. Of the 101 men and boys who had left Senegal, 38 were alive when the rescue took place.