Four men – a 23-year-old Senegalese, his brother, his friend and a young Fulani accused of being a “vampire” by a marabout on board – were allegedly beaten, handcuffed and thrown alive into the Atlantic on the night of November 1, 2024. This case, which occurred during a migratory crossing between Senegal and the Canaries, marks a judicial turning point: for the first time, the Guardia Civil and the Spanish public prosecutor are seeking to bring to trial intentional murders committed on board a pirogue, an unprecedented case on this perilous route.

The boat, named "223 bis" by the police, was carrying 207 migrants when it docked at the port of La Restinga, in El Hierro, on November 3, 2024. The routine assistance took a dramatic turn when medical personnel discovered a man stabbed in the chest. Was it a stab wound? The Guardia Civil thinks so, but the story goes much further: a delirium caused by exhaustion, amplified by the superstitions of a marabout and the brutality of the captains, transformed this crossing into a nightmare.

A complaint that lifts the veil

The investigation only began three weeks later, when a complaint filed by relatives of a victim alerted the authorities. Two Senegalese residents of Spain had gone to Tenerife, looking for a relative who had left Bassoul, a Senegalese island, on October 28. Learning that the pirogue had reached El Hierro without him, they collected chilling testimonies: their brother had allegedly been tortured, humiliated and thrown into the sea with three others, under the orders of the captains.

Seven suspects – originally from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau – were arrested at the Las Raíces reception centre in Tenerife, where they had been staying since their arrival. The Court Number 2 of La Laguna, and then that of Valverde in El Hierro, took charge of this case, described as a "real nightmare" by the Guardia Civil on 29 December 2024, the date the arrests were announced.

Seven days of horror at sea

The investigation, based on court documents and the accounts of protected witnesses, traces the facts. Having left Gambia, the pirogue stopped in Bassoul to embark most of its 207 occupants – Senegalese, Gambians, Guineans, Mauritanians and Malians. Until the third day, October 30, everything seemed under control. But the monotony of the ocean, combined with fatigue, sowed confusion among the skippers, convinced that the boat was stagnating despite its progress.

Convinced of a curse, they looked for a culprit. A 23-year-old Senegalese man, delirious under stress, shouted incoherent words. For the captains, influenced by a marabout, this was proof of an evil presence: a “vampire”. Tied up, beaten and wounded with a machete, he became the scapegoat. The next day, his brother and a friend tried to defend him, sealing their fate. A fourth man, a Peul designated as a “vampire” by the marabout, joined the victims. On the night of November 1, the four were thrown into the sea – one strangled, the other three alive and handcuffed.

A challenge for Spanish justice

The Public Prosecutor's Office of Santa Cruz de Tenerife accuses three of the seven detainees of premeditated murder, in addition to a collective charge of encouraging illegal immigration. If these accusations are maintained, it will be a first: never has a pirogue captain been tried for voluntary murder in the Canary Islands. Until now, deaths at sea were classified as negligent homicides, linked to the extreme conditions of the crossings.

But doubts remain. One defendant's defense team disputes the strength of the evidence - three testimonies from 207 occupants, with no bodies or physical traces, the canoe having been destroyed before the investigation. A legal expert points to another obstacle: can Spain try a crime committed in international waters by non-Spaniards against foreign victims? Although Spanish law allows prosecutions for migrant smuggling abroad, a wilful murder raises new questions. The answer will come from the courts of El Hierro and Tenerife.