Their goal was to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, a gateway to Europe.

Social media footage showed other would-be migrants jumping off a boat that ran aground in St Louis, Senegal.

According to witnesses, the wind forced them back and they wished to avoid arrest by the navy, which has increased patrols.

As we were chilling on the beach, a pirogue [wooden style boat] arrived with migrants on board. As they approached the shore, they frantically jumped into the water, a 19-year-old Saint Louis resident told Reuters.

The government released a 10-year plan to combat irregular migration, including stronger border management, at the end of July.

As of early 2023, at least 140 migrants have died or gone missing while crossing the Atlantic, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

According to the InfoMigrants news site, more than 2,690 people reached the Canary Islands from Senegal and Morocco in August alone.

It was more than double the number of arrivals in the same month last year.

Last month, the brother of a Senegalese man who died after his boat drifted at sea for more than a month told the he would still attempt the trip as it would be impossible to make a living in Senegal. On X, formerly known as Twitter, the West African nation’s navy posted photos of those intercepted: