TRANSCRIPT:
More than 60 migrants are feared dead after a boat carrying 100 mostly Senegalese migrants capsized off the coast of Cape Verde.
The boat was spotted adrift on the 14th of August by a fishing vessel operated by the Spanish company PEVASA.
The crew rescued 38 survivors and recovered the bodies of seven victims near Cape Verde, which is located about 620 kilometres off the coast of West Africa.
Filomena Gonçalves is the Cape Verde Health Minister.
"It was an act of humanity on the part of the vessel to rescue them on high seas, they needed it."
This act of humanity, however, couldn't avert tragedy.
Seven bodies were recovered from the boat, and an estimated 56 individuals are missing at sea and presumed dead.
The survivors were brought ashore on the island of Sal.
Nuno Santos is with Cape Verde Civil Protection.
"At this time, we have 32 people here, six others are still being treated in hospital. Those who are here are in a more or less favourable situation. They have somewhat recovered but are still in the process of recovery."
Those not in hospital are being provided shelter at a local school.
Sal Island health official Jose Moreira says t heir condition is improving.
"The survivors are better. They're being hydrated, they're being looked after here in the tent, here at the port. In terms of testing, we're testing for malaria and Covid, and so far we haven't had any positives."
The Spanish migration advocacy group, Walking Borders, says the vessel was a large fishing boat, called a pirogue, which had left Senegal on the 10th of July.
Families in Fass Boye, a seaside town 145 kilometres north of the capital, Dakar, reached out to Walking Borders on the 20th of July after 10 days without hearing from loved ones on the boat.
The route from West Africa to Spain is one of the world’s most dangerous, yet the number of migrants leaving from Senegal on rickety wooden boats has surged over the past year.
Walking Borders says nearly 1,000 migrants lost their lives attempting to reach Spain by sea in just the first half of 2023.
Health Minister Filomena Goncalves says more needs to be done.
"It comes with a lot of pain, yes, but we know that migration issues are global issues, which require international cooperation, a lot of discussion and global strategy. Given what the world is going through right now with migratory issues, it means that we all, all the nations, have to sit down at the table and see what we can do so that we don't lose any more lives at sea, above all. … All of us, all of the nations must sit down to see what can be done so we can stop losing more lives at sea, above all."
And four people have been arrested and are under investigation in France following the fatal sinking of a migrant boat in the English Channel.
It follows the death of six men who were aboard the vessel that got into difficulty near Calais on Saturday.
More than 50 other people were rescued by French and British coastguards.
