NGO uses aerial missions to locate West African migrant boats in trouble

Every hour is vital when searching for distressed West African migrant boats in the Atlantic, where long journeys and harsh weather can quickly turn deadly, according to a nonprofit conducting aerial surveillance.

AFP joined the Humanitarian Pilots Initiative (HPI) on a mission to locate missing pirogues—long, fragile canoes—that had departed The Gambia but never arrived at their destinations. The team’s goal: survey an area larger than Switzerland from hundreds of metres in the air and provide aid before it is too late.

“People could be dead or dying from dehydration, heat stroke or other conditions,” pilot Omar El Manfalouty told AFP.

Migrants departing from West Africa generally aim to reach Europe via the Canary Islands, which serve as a stepping stone for onwards journeys to the European continent. Increasing departures from southern locations in The Gambia and Guinea mean migrants are spending longer at sea and facing greater dangers. More than 3,000 migrants died in 2025 attempting to reach Spain clandestinely, according to Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras.

HPI has operated in the central Mediterranean since 2016 and has assisted in spotting over 1,000 vessels, alerting international rescue ships. The Atlantic is a newer frontier for the NGO. AFP joined HPI on its third mission in nine months, flying for several days in the Beechcraft Baron 58 aircraft nicknamed “Seabird”.

Vast area

“The Atlantic Ocean is huge. It’s a vast area and impossible to cover in its entirety,” said El Manfalouty.

HPI brought its longest-range aircraft and concentrated on regions unreachable by other actors, approximately 300 to 500 nautical miles from the Canaries. Once a vessel is spotted, HPI alerts nearby merchant ships for immediate support, after which Spain’s maritime safety and rescue authority, Salvamento Maritimo, takes over.

“Having an aircraft in the area to support from the air with ten times the speed [of boats] makes a lot of sense,” said Samira, the mission’s tactical coordinator, who requested only her first name be used for safety reasons.

In January, HPI received a report of a missing boat from The Gambia carrying 103 people, including nine women and three children. The NGO quickly mobilised. The 1,000-nautical-mile journey to the Canaries leaves a huge search area, Samira said, plotting several possible routes on her tablet.

Eyes glued

Once in the patrol zone, the plane descended below cloud cover and followed parallel trajectories, with three crew members scanning the ocean for the pirogue. During the mission, they were alerted to a second missing boat, which had left The Gambia seven days earlier with 137 passengers.

“With strong winds and swells, the boats may have drifted,” Samira said. Boats have previously been carried as far as the Caribbean or South America with no survivors.

After three consecutive days, the crew had flown nearly 3,800 nautical miles but still found no trace of either vessel.

Meanwhile, near a migrant reception centre in Las Palmas, 25-year-old Senegalese migrant Ousmane Ly reflected on his journey. Other migrants from Senegal enjoyed the sun, photographing the beach, their relief at surviving outweighing the exhaustion of days crammed in the pirogue.

Passengers’ hands, arms, and legs bore injuries from prolonged exposure to salt water. Ousmane recalled being covered with a tarpaulin for ten days to shield against sun and cold, thinking of his mother while waiting for rescue.

The vessel was eventually located by Salvamento Maritimo, carrying 108 people, two of whom were found dead.

This story was selected by AFP’s chief editors for republication in the Africa Selection as exemplary reporting from the sub-Saharan region in recent weeks. Pictures and video by Michele Cattani.