Migrants' ordeal: Hallucinations, 22-foot waves, hunger [View All]

[seemslikeadream]

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/12/19/senegal.migrants.ap/

Story Highlights
• Of more than 100 people on boat, more than half die during voyage
• More than 24,000 Africans caught this year trying to get to Europe
• Men pay $800 to $1,000 for perilous journey to Canary Islands
• Migrant departure points move south to avoid patrols

ST. LOUIS, Senegal (AP) -- Perched on gurneys in the hall of a hospital emergency ward, mosquitoes buzzing thickly around their heads, a group of young men tell of a disastrous 12-day boat voyage with little food or water, three capsizings, motor breakdowns, and 22-foot waves.

Like thousands of other West African migrants who have attempted the crossing to Spain's Canary Islands this year, the more than 100 men who embarked from south of Senegal's capital in early December risked their lives and savings in the hope of finding work in Europe.

Fewer than half survived.

"After seven days, there was nothing left, nothing," said Bala Diole, an unemployed 29-year-old from the capital, Dakar, who occasionally raises sheep to generate some income. He said they survived on rice mixed with sea water, until even that ran out.

"People started dying one by one," Diole said. Fellow passengers said Muslim prayers and put the bodies overboard.

The boat was found by fishermen near the northern Senegalese city of St. Louis during the weekend and 25 men were taken to the hospital there, according to hospital records. Those in the hospital said about seven others made it to shore but fled.