A total of 14 fatalities have been recorded after a wooden boat overturned near Dakar, the capital city of Senegal.
A district deputy mayor disclosed this on Monday, according to AFP.
“It seems to be migrants,” Samba Kandji said after several similar tragedies in recent weeks.
Rescue crews were still seeking more bodies after the pirogue capsized between Sunday and Monday.
“The navy told the vessel to draw alongside, and they fled,” Kandji later added.
“I was told 14 were dead, but two more bodies have been found. We assume it’s 16,” he said.
In recent weeks, there has been an increase in activity along the Atlantic sea route from northwest Africa used by migrants attempting to reach Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands.
A pirogue capsized off the coast of Senegal’s Saint-Louis, near the border with Mauritania, killing at least 14 people in mid-July.
