At least 30 decomposed bodies were found on a boat adrift about 70 kilometers off the coast of Dakar, Senegal’s capital, the country’s armed forces announced today.

The Navy was alerted to the presence of the boat last night, Sunday, and a coastguard vessel was immediately dispatched to the area, according to the armed forces’ statement.

“So far, 30 bodies have been counted,” the statement said, adding that investigations would provide more precise information about the number of dead and the boat’s point of departure.

The advanced state of decomposition of the bodies makes their identification challenging, the military added.

The Atlantic migration route from West Africa’s coast to the Canary Islands, often used by African migrants attempting to reach Spain, is one of the deadliest in the world.

An unprecedented number of nearly 5,000 migrants lost their lives at sea in the first five months of 2024 trying to reach the Spanish archipelago, according to the organization Walking Borders in June.