This month those gathered at the regular Prayer Vigil outside the Home Office remembered the following people who died a year ago, in November 2023, attempting to reach sanctuary in Europe:

Date	Details
?	8 people from Gambia died of exhaustion during a 15-day boat journey from Gambia to the Canaries. Their bodies were thrown in the sea; 55 survived.
3/11	A boy died from exhaustion in hospital, having arrived at El Hierro (Spain) by boat from West Africa one day earlier; 83 survived.
4/11	134 people from Senegal, including at least 3 children and 6 women, drowned when a Canaries-bound boat on the way from Senegal sank off Nouadhibou (Morocco);15 191 survived.   2 people died of unknown cause, their bodies found on board a boat during rescue off the Canary island of El Hierro. 2 others died on the way to hospital.   A man of 23 from Syria died, his body found by nature researchers in Białowieża Forest (Poland) near Narewka River at the Poland-Belarus border.
5/11	15 people were presumed drowned off Nouadhibou (Morocco), missing from 7 canoes on the way from Senegal to the Canaries.   13 people, including 2 children, from sub-Saharan Africa died of hunger and thirst on the way to Spain, their bodies in state of decay found in boats off Nouadhibou.   A body, probably of a woman, wearing a white shirt & tied to a tire used as a life vest was found between rocks on the coast of Lampedusa (Italy).
6/11	Dinh Anh Nguyen, a man of 37 from Vietnam, was hit by a train near Calais (France) while walking on railway tracks in the dark.   182 people from Guinea, Mali, and Senegal drowned off Gadaye (Senegal) on the way from Bargny (Senegal) to the Canary Islands (Spain). 87 survived.
8/11	17 people from Algeria drowned when a boat went missing on the way to Murcia (Spain) after embarkation from Mostaganem (Algeria).   2 men, both aged around 30, drowned off Gadaye (Senegal) on the way to the Canary Islands, their bodies found at Diamalaye beach (Senegal); 87 survived.
9/11	A body was found by the Spanish Civil Guard, after a boat from West Africa arrived south of El Hierro (Spain); 79 survived.   Mohammed Amine Saidat, a man of 26 from Morocco, was hit by a train in Bolzano (Italy) while looking for shelter for the night. He had camped near the site of his death.
10/11	A man’s body was found by journalists while reporting in the Kupa Riverbed in Netretić (Croatia) on the Croatia-Slovenia border.
11/11	7 people, including an infant, drowned, their bodies recovered in the Mediterranean Sea off Sfax (Tunisia) by the Tunisian National Guard.   2 people from sub-Saharan Africa drowned on the way from Sfax (Tunisia) to Lampedusa (Italy) when they fell from a small boat when rescuers neared; 67 survived.
12/11	A body was found by Belarus border guards in Belarus near the 82nd Belarusian pillar of the border fence with Latvia.   A man of about 30 from sub-Saharan Africa drowned off Gadaye (Senegal) on the way to the Canary Islands, his body found at Déni Guedj Nord beach (Senegal); 87 survived.   A man of 29 from Eritrea died of unknown causes on the way to Lampedusa (Italy), his body found on board a boat by Italian coast guards.
13/11	7 people from Liberia, Palestine, Syria and elsewhere, including a child and 2 women, drowned when a rubber boat on the way to Chios (Greece) sank in stormy weather off Cesme (Turkey); 6 survived.   Abdelbassit Mohammad, a man of 22 from Sudan, had his throat slit during a brawl between migrants under the Mollien bridge in Calais; his attacker fled.
14/11	11 people from Algeria drowned in the Mediterranean sea, off Murcia (Spain) on the way from Mostaganem (Algeria).   16 people drowned when a boat hit rocks on the way from Senegal to the Canaries (Spain), their bodies found on a beach of Lagouera (Morocco).
15/11	A person from Gambia died of exhaustion during a 15-day boat journey from Gambia to the Canaries, their body found during rescue; 55 survived.   19 people from Algeria drowned when a boat missing on the way to the Balearic Islands (Spain) after embarkation from Algiers (Algeria).
Mid Nov.	A person died of unknown causes on the way from Africa to Lampedusa (Italy), buried in Palma on the island of Sicily.
16/11	19 people from Algeria drowned when a boat went missing on the way to the Balearic Islands (Spain) after embarkation from Algiers (Algeria).
17/11	35 people, including 2 children and 5 women, from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa, drowned, when a boat capsized in high waves south of Guelmim (Morcco) on the way to the Canaries; 10 survived.   Baysal Recep, a man of 42, and Geçsöyler Mehmet Ali, a man of 37, both from Turkish Kurdistan, were hit by a truck and killed while walking on the emergency lane of the A16 near the Calais ferry terminal.   An Albanian man of 37 died in hospital after attempting suicide in Brook House removal centre in Gatwick in fear of deportation.
19/11	18 people from north Africa went missing on the way to Alicante (Spain) after embarkation from Tipaza (Algeria).
20/11	A girl of 2 from Guinea died of unknown causes on a rescue ship on the way to port after shipwreck off Capo Ponente (Italy); 43 survived   8 people from sub-Saharan Africa, including 2 children, drowned on the way from Sfax (Tunisia) to Lampedusa (Italy) after shipwreck off Capo Ponente (Italy); 43 survived.
21/11	A woman of 36 drowned off Lampedusa (Italy) on the way from Sfax (Tunisia) when a metal boat sank during rescue; 46 people, including her sister, survived.
22/11	Mulu Wolde Tsehaye, a woman of 34, and Eskiel Sebsbea Tsgaye, a woman of 37, both from Ethiopia, and a man named Aman, drowned when a Britain-bound boat capsized after leaving a beach near Equihen-Plage (France); 58 survived.
26/11	Mikhail Zubchenko, a man of 24 from Russia, committed suicide after 14 months in Asylum Seekers Center in Echt (Netherland). He was a LGBT asylum seeker.
27/11	A person from Egypt was found frozen to death in the outskirts of Sofia (Bulgaria), part of group of 10 migrants; 9 survived.
29/11	A body was found on an inflatable boat during rescue off Gran Canaria (Spain); 50 survived.   2 people drowned, having been thrown into the sea near Cadiz (Spain) by traffickers using a fast drugs-smuggling boat from Morocco; 23 survived.

Service Sheet for the November 2024 Prayer Vigil

Sign up to receive email news & alerts of changes or cancellation at: homeofficevigil@gmail.com