At least 25 people died when a boat carrying migrants sank on Monday off Nouakchott, according to what was reported on Wednesday by the official Mauritanian News Agency.
The Mauritanian News Agency quoted the Head of the Southern Division of the Mauritanian Coast Guard, Colonel Sheikh Maa El-Ainin Sidi Haiba, as saying that “the lives of 103 illegal immigrants were saved and 25 bodies were recovered, as a result of their boat. sinking off the coast of the capital, Nouakchott.”
A previous toll from the International Organization for Migration said at least 15 people had been killed.
The International Organization for Migration said in a statement on Wednesday that the Mauritanian Coast Guard rescued 120 people, ten of whom were quickly transferred to hospitals, while efforts continue to find those missing. to find
She said the passengers sailed from Gambia and spent seven days at sea before the ship sank.
Iba Sar, a vendor in a fish market in Nouakchott, told Reuters that strong winds in the past two days had pushed the bodies close to the shore, and that he saw around 30 bodies of the get back
The Atlantic crossing from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, which is usually used by African migrants to reach Spain, is one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world
Summer is usually the busiest time on this route.
The International Organization for Migration said that more than 19,700 migrants reached the Canary Islands using the transatlantic route from January 1 to July 15, 2024, an increase of 160 percent compared to the one time last year.
The group Walking Borders, which advocates for migrant rights, said in June that an unprecedented number of migrants, around five thousand, had died at sea in the first five months of 2024 while trying to reach the Spanish islands.
2024-09-20 00:03:21
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