Mauritania’s coast guard has rescued 216 migrants in two separate operations off the country’s Atlantic coast, while more than 120 others remain missing after a boat carrying migrants towards Spain’s Canary Islands went missing.
In the latest operation carried out over the week-end, the coast guard rescued 179 migrants aboard a vessel that had departed from Senegal. The group included 168 Senegalese, four Gambians, five Ghanaians and two Malians, among them four women and eight children. Some migrants requiring medical attention were taken to a hospital in the north-western port city of Nouadhibou.
In a separate operation on Friday, 17 July 2026, authorities rescued 37 people and recovered one body after locating another migrant boat in distress in Mauritanian territorial waters.
Survivors said the boat had left Banjul, The Gambia, with about 160 people on board, heading to the Canary Islands, before suffering a mechanical failure and running out of fuel. The vessel drifted for about 25 days, with passengers reportedly forced to drink seawater after food and drinking supplies ran out.
The survivors included 22 Senegalese, seven Gambians and eight Guineans, with seven people admitted to hospital in Nouadhibou. Mauritanian authorities said search operations are ongoing for those still missing.
