Barbados Death Boat Inquest Starts – Senegal Migrants Starved When Abandoned By Smugglers

“I would like to send to my family in Bassada (a town in western Senegal) a sum of money. Please excuse me and goodbye. This is the end of my life in this big Moroccan sea,”

… victim Diao Souncar Dieme wrote his goodbyes. (Times Online: Mystery of death boat that drifted 3,000 miles off course)

Drifting Boat Found Off Barbados April 29, 2006

Some three years after Bajan fisherfolk made the grim discovery of a boat full of bodies off our coast, Barbados is holding an inquest into the deaths of the African migrants who perished trying to journey to Europe. Barbados Free Press followed the story at the time of the discovery and afterwards, but nothing has been heard about the case for some time. There were reports of arrests made of the smugglers who abandoned the boat, but we have been unable to find any recent updates online. None of the original links to Barbados news media websites still work as the Nation News removed all previous stories earlier this year. (So much for the historical record!)

For background, you can start with our July 23, 2006 story Barbados Death Boat Arrest, or search “death boat” in our search bar at the top.

I hope that the Barbados news media closely follows the inquest. In this day and age, there is no reason why the inquest records should not be made available online.

Here is the Nation story – at least until they take it down: Fishermen made grim discovery