The man who is said to be the captain who knows the route to mainland Spain from the West African coast who was in charge of the wooden boat that was carrying hundreds of Gambians and Senegalese would be backway migrants that got into trouble at sea resulting in the death of eight young men has been named as Baboucarr. The migrants only know him as Baboucarr and his second name has never been spoken during the failed journey to Spain. Baboucarr is said to be of Senegalese nationality who joined the boat as its captain at the Senegalese town of Kafountine.
Speaking to GunjurOnline on condition of strict confidentiality, one of the stranded migrant told this medium that the captain has meted out inhumane treatment to the migrants, beating, tying and throwing overboard people who died, for fear of getting into trouble if caught with dead bodies. Our source at the detention camp also revealed that all of the Senegalese would be migrants have now been repatriated by the Senegalese authorities and only 99 young Gambians are detained at the camp pending removal by Gambian authorities.
It could be recalled that eight young men have perished in the high seas between the Gambian and Moroccan waters as they ventured on the perilous journey across the Atlantic to Spain about two weeks ago. Augustine Gomez, a teacher at Gunjur Upper Basic School from Gunjur Taneneh and his cousin Nicola Gomez from Talinding are among those who have died as the captain of the boat was said to have lost his bearing and could not direct the boat to the intended destination. The boat was carrying about 125 people, 80 of whom are from Gambia and 25 from Gunjur.
The migrants spent 11 nights at sea with barely any food and drinks, exhausted while the boat virtually sank, but for divine intervention, only 8 people lost their lives and the rest found themselves in a desert in Morocco and arrested by the border patrol team. According to our findings, the boat left Gunjur beach stopping at Salul, Casamance where more people boarded the boat before the group headed to sea en-route to what they believed to be mainland Spain.