By Biran Gaye
Scores of Gambians including a mother of a 6-month-old baby are reportedly missing and feared dead at sea.
Migrant activists Yahya Sonko and Ebrima Manneh put the figure at 60.
These Gambians together with other nationals joined a boat that left the shores of Mbour on August 12 and went untraceable for nearly two months. The suburb of Babylon in West Coast Region of The Gambia bears the brunt of the tragic incident, plunging the village into mourning and desperation.
The boat, said to have been missing at sea, was found by the Senegalese navy off the coast of Dakar on 24 August, with the bodies of the migrants already decomposed beyond recognition, the West African country’s army said in a statement last week. Over 30 bodies have been washed off the coast of Dakar as search efforts continue.
The boat reportedly carried Gambian and Senegalese nationals who were bound for Europe through the illegal route ‘backway’.
Almost 10 youth of the village of Babylon are feared to have died in the pirogue, with the Jarju kunda family of Babylon hit hard, losing 18-year-old Jainaba Jarju and 20-year-old Gibril Jarju.
Fanta Gibba, the mother of the two victims, recounts how supportive her children were to the family, saying they had always “wanted to improve the family’s wellbeing, which propelled them to embark on the perilous journey”.
“They attended school, but later dropped out at senior secondary level,” the bereaved mother told Foroyaa.
“I have been doing petty business to feed the family since their father passed away.”
In her grieving voice, she recalls the day the tragic news of her children’s whereabouts was relayed as palpable desperation gripped the family since then.
Jainaba left behind a 6-month-old baby and a 2-year-old girl, who would likely grow up with emotional trauma.
“I normally provide her baby with milk to feed on because we do not have anyone to lactate him,” she laments, depriving the child of nutritious breastfeeding that promotes health and growth.
The child’s lack of breastfeeding is taking its toll on him as his body seems to be draining each day.
“I would want to be supported in taking care of her kids,” the mother says as relatives interjected to extend their condolences.
Unemployment and low opportunities drove the youth, including “my siblings to embark on the journey”, says Saikou Jarju, a brother of the victims.
“After they departed Mbour, the agent later informed us that the boat remained untraceable,” he recounts. “I called him after several days, but he was unreachable, which worried the family as we could not hear any news of our loved ones.”
Gibril worked as a truck apprentice but could not make do with the little income as a trucker, forcing him to look for greener pasture through the ‘backway’ to Europe, added Jarju.
“What he used to earn from his work could not cover his basic needs let alone the family’s,” he said. “The government should provide opportunities to the young ones as an alternative to the illegal route or risk losing its youthful population to the sea.”
Other push factors include the success stories and remittance brought by Gambians in Europe, with US$203.7 million of diaspora remittance inflows in the first quarter of 2024 representing a 12.4% increase from the previous year, according to the Central Bank. This, coupled with the prestige Gambians attached to being a ‘semester’, drives many to the perilous journey to live the European dream.
For Kemo Bojang, whose younger brother and nephew were on board the same pirogue, the hardships the youth are faced with in this country propelled his siblings to resort to the dangerous journey to Europe.
“We did not wish this tragic incident to happen to them, but they felt hopeless in terms of opportunities,” he wails.
His siblings Sulayman Saho and Lamin Jammeh used to make ends meet through masonry and driving respectively.
“It is a great loss to our family because they were ambitious and respectful; they were very helpful and appreciated by the family,” Bojang told Foroyaa.
“To address these devastating incidents, government ought to create more jobs for the youth so they could stay to support their families.”
Bojang urges European governments to ease visa applications for safe migration of people to reduce such incidents.
He said Jammeh’s disappearance left his family in a dire state as he was the breadwinner.
Mourning their loss, the head of Babylon council of elders reiterated the call to provide well-paid jobs to the youth because they cater for the older persons, noting that the future of the country depends on the youth who should be prioritized.
Other victims include Bubacarr Demba, Ba Landing Fatty, Lamin Colley, and Omar Camara among others.
In July, a boat carrying 300 migrants, mostly from Gambia and Senegal, capsized off Mauritania. More than a dozen died and at least 150 others went missing.
There has been a recent increase in migrants setting off from Senegal for Spain’s Canary Islands- a journey across the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic route is particularly perilous due to its strong currents.
Migrant vessels that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found carrying only human remains.
Thousands of deaths and disappearances occur every year on over-loaded, often unseaworthy boats. The route from Africa to the Canary Islands has seen a 154 percent surge in people making the journey this year with 21,620 crossings to the chipelago in the first seven months of 2024, according to European Union’s border agency.
