Mauritania: Coast Guard Finds Bodies of Migrants From a Shipwreck

The deceased were on a boat that sank last Monday, on the south-eastern coast of Mauritania

On Friday, Mauritanian coast guard found 89 bodies floating in the sea, apparently the product of a castaway of immigrants, who allegedly was heading to Europe.

Related:
Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouan Wins Re-election in Mauritania

The deceased were on a boat that sank last Monday, on the south-eastern coast of Mauritania, where 9 people were rescued while many others were missing, being found this Friday.

According to the survivors the boat left the Senegalese-Gambia coast with about 170 people on board, crowded, because the boat was a traditional, small fishing boat.

Mauritania is a key transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe from West Africa; last year, thousands of ships left the country but not 40% of them reached their destination.

Boat carrying at least 89 migrants capsizes off Mauritania’s coast. Recovery operation underway to retrieve bodies pic.twitter.com/CtinLhegcS

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) July 5, 2024

One of these most common destinations the dangerous route are the Islands from Africa to Europe is the Canary Islands of Spain, country that every day receives more “boats” full of immigrants, in poor sanitary and health conditions.

More than 5,000 migrants died trying to reach Spain by sea in the first five months of 2024, according to the charity Walking Borders.