Dozens killed, at least 150 missing after Canaries-bound migrant boat capsizes off Mauritania

At least 25 have reportedly died and more than 150 are missing when a boat full of people hoping to get to Spain’s Canary Islands capsized off the coast of Mauritania on Monday July 22, the latest in a string of migrant tragedies off the coast of West Africa, Mauritanian news agency  AMI said on Wednesday.

The Mauritanian coastguard “saved the lives of 103 illegal immigrants and recovered 25 bodies, following the sinking of their boat off the coast of the capital Nouakchott,” AMI reported, citing a coastguard commander.

About 300 people, mostly from Senegal and Gambia, spent seven days at sea, on board of the long, wooden, fishing vessel departing from The Gambia, roughly 1,350km to the south, near Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott, before the vessel overturned, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). “Among the survivors, 10 people were urgently referred to hospitals for medical care, and four unaccompanied and separated children were identified,” the agency added in a statement. It is the latest in a series of accidents off the coast of west Africa as people from across the continent increasingly resort to the deadly route to the Canaries, seeking asylum or better work opportunities in Europe.

For the past two months, more than 76 boats with more than 6,000 surviving migrants have disembarked in Mauritania, but at least 190 people have died or are missing, the IOM statement added. Close to 5,000 people are estimated to have died at sea between January and May of 2024 trying to reach the Spanish archipelago, migration rights group Walking Borders said last month. 160% more migrants arrived in the Canaries, using the Atlantic route, between January and July 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to the IOM data.