A group of 63 stranded Gambians trying to reach European shores but
who had been rescued at sea by the Moroccan Royal Navy has been
assisted by IOM to return home voluntarily in response to a growing
number of requests for help.



The Gambians had set out on the dangerous journey to the Canary
Islands on 6 May from the Senegalese capital, Dakar, in a
30-metre-long boat along with 58 other, mostly Senegalese,
irregular migrants. Each passenger had paid about USD 700 for the
voyage.



After two weeks at sea and having run out of fuel, the boat had
been blown towards the African coast by a storm. A nearby fishing
vessel alerted the Moroccan authorities of the distressed boat and
its passengers.



After their rescue at sea but finding themselves without any money
or papers, the migrants asked for assistance to return home, which
IOM carried out in coordination with Moroccan and Gambian
authorities and with funding from the British, German and Spanish
governments.



Since IOM opened its office in Rabat in January 2007, the number of
requests made by irregular migrants wishing to return to their home
countries has been unprecedented.



“In just a few months, IOM has helped 640 irregular migrants
stranded in Morocco, not just with returning home safely, but also
with reintegration assistance,” says IOM’s Chief of
Mission in Rabat, Stéphane Rostiaux. “However, we
urgently need additional funds if we are to continue providing such
humanitarian assistance. Without it, we will have to limit our help
before eventually stopping it. We don’t want to raise false
hopes amongst stranded migrants wanting to go home but who have few
options of doing so safely.”

For further information, please contact

Stéphane Rostiaux

IOM Rabat

Tel: + 213 37 65 28 81

Email: srostiaux@iom.int

"mailto:srostiaux@iom.int" target="_blank" title="">

or

Laura Lungarotti

Email: "mailto:llungarotti@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">llungarotti@iom.int