40 missing off Senegal
25/10/2007 16:42  - (SA)  

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Straitjackets for illegals Spain intercepts 125 migrants 50 migrants 'feared drowned'

Madrid - A Spanish fishing boat found seven bodies and one survivor in an open-topped wooden boat adrift off Senegal, with dozens more passengers thought to be missing, the Spanish coastguard said on Thursday.

According to the survivor, the boat began its journey with 54 people on board, the coastguard said. An Interior Ministry spokesperson said the numbers involved were still not clear.

The boat, found about 483km west of Senegal on Wednesday night, had been adrift for 20 days, the Spanish coastguard said.

Thousands of illegal immigrants in rickety wooden boats attempt the journey from Africa to Spain's Canary Islands every year. Many die trying to reach Europe in search of work.

A Spanish rescue boat has set out to meet the fishing boat and take the bodies and survivor to the Canary Islands.

The Spanish are conducting the rescue operation, even though the vessel was found in waters assigned to Senegalese rescue, because the fishing boat that found the wreck is Spanish, the coastguard said.

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