By RFPosted on 10-12-2019Modified on 10-12-2019 at 02:32
Several hundred Gambian migrants returned home on 9 December after being rescued or intercepted off the Mauritanian coast near Nouadhibou last week.
Hassan Ndour measures the chance he has to be among his parents today. The 25-year-old lost sixty of his compatriots who traveled with him. " We ran out of food and fuel and we did not know where to go ," he says. We wanted to moor the boat when the waves hit the canoe that capsized .
Sitting beside him, his father burst into tears. Hassan Ndour's family encouraged this departure to try to improve their living conditions. Hassan wanted to help his father, who is sick.
His mother, Seynabou Diouf, regrets this departure. " The village has gone through a real tragedy ," she says. I will never allow him to take part in such a trip. His father did not stop crying until his return today. I was really worried about something happening to him .
Hassan's trip to Spain cost him 30,000 dalasi, or 530 euros. It could have cost him his life. Several boats had left Barra , a small town on the north bank of the Gambia River, opposite the capital Banjul. The sinking of one of the pirogues left 60 Gambian dead, according to President Adama Barrow.
► See also: Shipwreck in Mauritania: Gambia faces the challenge of migrating youth
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