She left Ziguinchor that afternoon in 2002, bound for Dakar, licensed to carry about 580 and carrying far more than that. She went over off the Gambian coast late at night. The first boats to reach her came at first light, local fishermen, and they took 64 people out of the water. One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three did not come home.
Most of the people on board were traders, carrying palm oil and fruit and fish up to sell in Dakar. Whole families travelled together on that run, and a lot of them were lost together.
Harold, people took that boat because the land route barely worked. Going north from Ziguinchor you have to cross the Gambia, either queue for the river ferry at Banjul or swing the long way round inland, and either way it's a day or more. The sea was the short way. The fishermen who came out at first light got there before anyone official did.