DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A boat carrying nearly a hundred migrants hoping to reach Europe from Senegal ran aground on Tuesday morning in the capital city of Dakar, according to local authorities.

The migrants were likely aiming to sail another 1,500 kilometers (about 937 miles) across the Atlantic Ocean to Spain’s Canary Islands, which has reemerged as a major migrant transit route since 2020.

Nearly 47,000 people disembarked in the Canaries in 2024, an increase from the nearly 40,000 in 2023, according to Spanish Interior Ministry figures. Many undertake the journey in large, open top boats known as pirogues.

“We were informed of the interception of a pirogue full of migrants who wanted to leave for Europe,” said Abdou Aziz Guèye, mayor of Ouakam, the neighborhood where the boat ran agrou

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