Boat capsized: 15 dead, 150 missing off Mauritania

Shafaq News/ On Wednesday, a boat carrying 300 people capsized off Mauritania, resulting in 15 drownings and over 150 missing.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the Mauritanian Coast Guard rescued 120 individuals, with 10 being hospitalized, while search efforts for the missing are ongoing.

Two weeks ago, the Mauritanian Coast Guard recovered the bodies of 89 illegal immigrants from a large fishing boat that stranded off the Atlantic Ocean, four kilometers from the town of N'Diago, southwestern Mauritania.

The Atlantic migration route from West Africa to the Canary Islands, commonly taken by African migrants seeking entry into Spain, is among the deadliest in the world. Summer sees the highest traffic on this route.

Over 19,700 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands via the Atlantic route between January 1 and July 15, 2024, marking a 160% rise compared to the same period in 2023.