BBC Africa Eye investigates what is fast becoming the world’s deadliest migration route: the perilous Atlantic crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
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Father-of-two Mouhamed has never been to sea, but he is about to take what is fast becoming the deadliest migrant journey in the world: the Atlantic crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
Facing days, even weeks, on the open ocean, this year more than 70,000 irregular migrants and refugees are expected to attempt this perilous journey, many of them in overcrowded wooden boats.
From Senegal, Mouhamed will have to survive the treacherous crossing with little more than a handful of biscuits and a few bottles of water, all to achieve his dream of making it to the southern border of Europe. For all those who make it to the Canaries, there will be thousands who die trying. It’s a tragedy unfolding in real time, buried under world headlines.
In this hard-hitting investigation, #BBCAfricaEye reporter Mame Cheikh Mbaye takes viewers into the secretive world of migrants hoping to escape conflict and extreme poverty in Senegal and neighbouring countries, and what they hope will be a brighter future in Europe.
Mame Cheikh follows Mouhamed as he prepares himself for a journey that, one way or another, will alter the trajectory of his life forever. Negotiating with the criminals organising the crossing, getting ready without alerting police suspicion, before finally receiving the call from his smuggler to head to a secret hideout in preparation for a midnight departure. Mouhamed’s story intimately captures his journey, the viewer is with him throughout, including when he is in an open boat en route to the Canary Islands.
Mame Cheikh also talks to the families who have lost loved ones while attempting the crossing, secures rare access to the smugglers organising the migrant boats and meets with the Spanish authorities who are on the front line disrupting the criminal networks involved in this deadly trade. Throughout the film, he explores some of the motivations which are driving tens of thousands onto the boats in search of what they think could be a better life… only for many to perish, turning the Atlantic Ocean into a mass grave.
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Africa Eye brings you original, investigative journalism revealing secrets and rooting out injustice in the world’s most complex and exciting continent. Nothing stays hidden forever.
🎞️ Check out all #BBCAfricaEye investigations here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLajyiGz4JeyO2qgCvioQO-BzP1XCajJqt
📽️ Watch this documentary in FRENCH here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icIMp1ehPqE
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