By Pa Ablie Corr
Ms. Fatou Sanyang, a survivor of the recent migrant boat accident off the coast of Mauritania, which resulted the deaths of about 62 Gambians, is still utterly shocked by the sad news.
It’s been confirmed that about eighty-three survivors managed to swim to shore after their boat, which was heading for Spain’s Canary Islands and carrying over hundred passengers, including girls, capsized when it “ran out of fuel” and was eventually overturned by a high tides wind.
The migrant boat, believed to set sail from The Gambia’s small riverside settlement of Barra, located on the north bank of the River Gambia estuary, in the Lower Niumi District, North Bank Region, met its ill-fate near the commercial city of Nouadhibou in Mauritania.
According to some family members, the issue of carrying migrants from Barra to Spain has been an “open secret” to many Gambians.The boat that left the shores of The Gambia on the 27 of November 2019, was purportedly owned by one Mr. Ousman Bahoum, a resident of Barra village.The said Ousman is reported to be on the run since this tragic incident happened.
Seventy-eight survivors were recently repatriated back to the Gambia by the Mauritanian authorities, in collaboration with the Gambia Government, and through the efforts of the International Organization for Migrants (IOM).
Speaking to Mansa Banko Online, Fatou revealed that she embarked on the “Back way” specifically to reverse the living condition of her family.
“My heart is very heavy. Out of 120 of us, only sixty-seven of us surviving—that’s me and the rest of my colleagues,” Fatou somberly, told Mansa Banko Online in an interview in Barra, recently. “I’m ok, but this is really hard, she echoed.
According to her, she is a fruit seller in Barra and had accumulated her savings up to thirty-five thousand (D35, 0000) which she used to pay the boat owner called Abdoulie Faye. After paying her money, she was asked to go and join the boat near the riverside in Barra, disclosed Sanyang.
She further explained that after joining the boat together with few friends, they were ferried to Sitanuku in Upper Nuimi District where they were told that the boat would be having its final route to Spain.
The female survivor reported that some people were transported by vehicle to a compound in Essau where they gathered for a while, before finally leaving for Sitanunku to join the Spain-bound boat.
But when this reporter quizzed her about that particular compound in Essau where they had a sojourn, Ms. Sanyang replied, “I don’t know the said compound, because I was not part of those who were transported to Essau.” She could not have her money back, and since she came back, Fatou said she’s always indoors.
“It’s a huge loss on me and on all sides. It’s unimaginable,” she bewailed, adding she never thought that she of losing such a number of people in her community, just like that.
For his part, Mr. Samba Ceesay, a father to late Yunus Ceesay, blamed the government for failing to create jobs for the youths. In his opinion, “They (the government) are to be blamed because their lack of creating jobs for the youths is leading to their embarking on the perilous journey.”
Ceesay posited that government could have created coastal industries where youths would be employed, adding such ideas would have reduced the level of youths embarking on this perilous journey. He alleged that the security personnel in Barra were fully aware that boats were leaving the offshores of Barra to Spain.
“The rumour of boats embarking on the back way was all over in town,” said Ceesay, as he wondered how the security forces could be out of the loop when “we have them all over along the seaside”.
Mariatou Barry, sister to Saffiatiou Barry said their sister was the youngest amongst the migrants that drowned at sea in Nouadihibou.
She, sadly, explained:“My mother past away leaving us behind. Before her demise, it was Saffiatou’s name she used in her saving account. Saffiatou decided to withdraw the money to embark on the back way and eventually died at sea. Saffiatou was in Grade 9 and in her eighteen years.”
