At least 4 migrants have died and others remain missing after a boat capsized off Senegal

DAKAR, Senegal -- A boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Senegal over the weekend, leaving at least four people dead and several others missing, local authorities said on Monday.

The artisanal fishing boat left the town of Mbour, nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the capital, Dakar heading to Europe on Sunday afternoon before capsizing a few miles off the coast, Amadou Diop, the district's prefect told The Associated Press.

Local fishermen rescued three people who were brought back to shore by naval authorities.

Senegal’s navy is looking for those missing, Diop said, adding that the exact number of passengers remained unknown.

In recent years, the number of migrants leaving West Africa through Senegal has surged with many fleeing conflict, poverty and the lack of job opportunities. Most head to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa, which is used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,300 people have landed on the Canary Islands, 126% more than the same period last year, according to statistics released by Spain’s Interior Ministry.

Last month, the Senegalese army said it had arrested 453 migrants and “members of smuggling networks” as part of a 12-day operation patrolling the coastline. More than half of the arrested were Senegalese nationals, the army said.

In July, a boat carrying 300 migrants, mostly from Gambia and Senegal, capsized off Mauritania. More than a dozen died and at least 150 others went missing.

The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest in the world. While there is no accurate death toll because of the lack of information on departures from West Africa, the Spanish migrant rights group Walking Borders estimates the victims are in the thousands this year alone.

Migrant boats that get lost or run into problems often vanish in the Atlantic, with some drifting across the ocean for months until they are found in the Caribbean and Latin America carrying only human remains.