At least 49 migrants have been confirmed dead and around 100 others remain missing after a boat capsized this week off the coast of Mauritania, in what aid groups describe as one of the deadliest shipwrecks of the summer along the Atlantic migration route to Europe.
The wooden canoe, carrying about 160 people mainly from The Gambia and Senegal, had set sail six days earlier, bound for Spain’s Canary Islands. Mauritania’s coastguard said the vessel overturned late on Tuesday night near the town of Mheijrat, about 60 kilometres north of Nouakchott, after passengers spotted lights on shore and shifted to one side. “They all moved at once, and the boat capsized,” a senior coastguard official told AFP.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelBy Friday, 49 bodies had been recovered and 17 survivors rescued. “The search continues, but many are feared lost,” a coastguard spokesperson said. Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras estimated that up to 140 people could still be missing. “This is one of the most significant tragedies of this summer,” said its spokesperson, Helena Maleno, urging Mauritanian authorities to keep up the rescue efforts.
The scale of the disaster highlights the risks of the Atlantic migration corridor. According to Caminando Fronteras, nearly 47,000 people arrived in the Canary Islands last year, while more than 9,000 died or disappeared along the route. The organisation says at least 2,500 people have already died making the journey in the first eight months of this year. “Every day we record deaths on this route. It is the most dangerous sea crossing to Europe,” Maleno said.
Mauritania has become a key stop for West African migrants attempting the journey, but rights groups warn that conditions there are increasingly hostile.
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Human Rights Watch this week accused Mauritanian security forces of abusing migrants, saying the crackdown had been worsened by a deal with the European Union and Spain aimed at preventing sea crossings.
Despite the dangers, survivors said they felt they had no choice but to attempt the voyage. “We left The Gambia because there is no future there,” one of the rescued men told local reporters. “We knew the risk, but we wanted a better life.”
As bodies continue to be recovered from the waters north of Nouakchott, aid organisations say the disaster is a grim reminder of the desperation that fuels irregular migration and the urgent need for safer, legal pathways.
