Irregular migration: 171 survivors found in Gandiol

A canoe carrying 171 candidates for irregular emigration, including women and children, ran aground on October 20 in Pilote Bar, in the commune of Gandiol, in Saint Louis. Seven people were hospitalized. Two individuals are being held as part of the investigation, while the alleged smuggler and the captain of the boat remain untraceable.

According to information provided by the Gendarmerie, the boat docked on October 20, 2026, around 7 a.m., at the Pilote Bar river, with the help of canoeists from Guet-Ndar. The passengers are said to have left the Gambian coast on the night of October 15, around 11 p.m., heading for Spain. Each would have paid between 300,000 and 600,000 CFA francs for this clandestine trip.

Bad weather conditions and the state of the sea would have forced the boat to interrupt its crossing. Alerted, the Saint-Louis Territorial Brigade, reinforced by the Surveillance and Intervention Squadron (ESI), and the North Naval Base coordinated their intervention to provide assistance to the passengers, secure the premises and carry out their identification.

Women and children among the survivors

The group includes 60 women and 12 children. Seven people, including six Gambians and a Senegalese, were evacuated to the Saint-Louis regional hospital to receive treatment. No loss of life has been reported. The intervention led to the seizure of the canoe and ten 20-liter cans of gasoline. The survivors were then taken to the gendarmerie unit for the purposes of their identification.

On the legal aspect, two individuals, handed over to the Gendarmerie by the soldiers of the Northern Naval Base, are being held as part of the investigation. The alleged smuggler and the captain of the canoe remain, for the moment, untraceable. The investigations should in particular make it possible to determine the exact circumstances of this crossing, to identify the possible organizers of the trip and to establish responsibilities, underlines the communication services of the National Gendarmerie.