The ‘death boats’ carrying victims of a cost-of-living crisis in Morocco

Spanish NGOs estimate that a thousand people died in first half of this year alone along illegal migration routes

(Georgios Giannopoulos/ Wikimedia)

This article first appeared in our partner site, Independent Arabia

A tragedy that rocked a village on the outskirts of the city of Fquih Ben Salah in central Morocco earlier this year has reignited debate on the human cost of the so-called “boats of death”, which transport people illegally to European shores.

A rubber dinghy carrying 46 people, including a father and his teenage son, most of whom belonged to a deprived rural area on the outskirts of Fquih Ben Salah drowned after the engine caught fire in early September. The victims were seeking to cross the Atlantic to Spain from the coastal city of El Jadida.

Meanwhile, the families of the deceased are waiting to receive their remains, though the final death toll is yet to be confirmed.

This comes just weeks after grieving families in another region received the bodies of relatives who died after a boat capsized in the middle of the Atlantic while crossing to Spain. The mostly young victims had been intending to travel further into Europe.

Unofficial statistics

Many lives are lost in vain to the sea, turning the dream of reaching “European paradise” into a nightmare for the families who mourn their loved ones and the society that loses a generation that represents its future.

“Death boats” which illegally transport people from Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa have high death tolls. In the absence of official figures, it is estimated that hundreds die every year navigating illegal migration routes.

Spanish NGOs report that “about a thousand people lost their lives during the first half of this year on various migration routes along the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic ocean towards Spanish territory”.

According to the same reports, “There were 978 deaths on illegal migration routes both land and sea. Among them, 118 women and 41 children died while attempting to reach Spanish coasts.”

Meanwhile, authorities in Morocco responsible for countering illegal migration announced that “14,746 [illegal migration] attempts were thwarted during the first quarter of 2022. Furthermore, 52 criminal networks that smuggled migrants were dismantled during the three first months of the current year”.

Humanitarian toll

It is undeniable that the humanitarian toll of “death boats” is the greatest concern, especially for families that lose their children in migration attempts by the sea from Morocco to the Spanish shore.

Speaking to Independent Arabia, El Haj Abdelmoaty, the father of one of the victims of the “death boat” that set off from El Jadida, said that “the loss of a son is the heaviest grief one can imagine especially since he drowned in the sea in tragic circumstances”.

“My son didn’t tell me when he would get on the rubber boat to cross over to Spain. I knew he was desperate to go. He was tempted by the fact that some of his friends had crossed over illegally and were sending him their pictures of their life over there.”

The bereaved father added that, “there are no words to express how I felt after learning from some of the survivors that my son was aboard that boat. The whole family is living in the hope that his body is found so that we can lay him to rest”.

The death of a father and his son

One of the most heart-breaking stories from the El Jadida incident was the death of a father and his teenage son from the rural region of Rawajeh in the outskirts of Fquih Ben Salah. The father dreamt of emigrating for a "better tomorrow", however events took a tragic turn.

Local rights activists in the area recounted how the father and son shared a close bond and had many interests in common. According to the activists, the pair participated in marches against marginalisation. They also attended protests calling for the right to access safe drinking water after a drought had hit the entire region.

In a tragic turn of events, father and son drowned in the sea in the darkness of night after they took a fateful decision to board a bus that would take them from their home to the city of El Jadida, the starting point of a journey towards the unknown.

Salah Wrad, a local activist, shared a Facebook post in their memory, “All their hopes were shattered the moment the engine broke down. Dreams turned into nightmares after this father and son joined together one last time.”

Victims of a cost of living crisis

Observers have highlighted how victims of the “death boats” primarily come from marginalised areas with poor social development such as Fquih Ben Salah, Khouribga, Settat, Beni Mellal and Tinghir.

It appears that economic marginalisation is a key factor in driving Moroccan youth to emigrate. This is according to the Souk Sebt branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights which highlighted how “factories and businesses are shutting down and the water supply in the area is diminishing”.

The association called on local and regional officials to create better job opportunities and an effective plan of action to develop the area as well as clamping down on illegal trafficking, which displaces so many victims of the cost of living crisis.

Abdelilah El Khadri, director of the Moroccan Centre for Human Rights, told Independent Arabia that continued loss of life as a result of migration by ‘death boats’ to European shores is a real crisis.

El Khadri noted that, “public policy has failed to bring about the conditions necessary for a decent life in the country. The situation must be remedied and we must find real solutions to tackle the issue of unemployment and the cost of living crisis faced by Moroccan youth before it is too late”.

“These tragic events keep on happening, and yet there is no solution in sight. How long will the obsession with immigration continue to hold the youth of Morocco in its grip – at this pace and with such risks?”

Mustapha Baitas, spokesperson for the Moroccan government, previously announced that “the government is working on mobilising very important capabilities in order to secure all Moroccan shores in the fight against illegal migration”.

Reviewed by Tooba Ali and Celine Assaf