The United Nations refugee agency announced Tuesday that it is “extremely saddened” by the deaths and disappearances of nearly 150 people whose boats went down off the coast of Mauritania last week as they attempted to reach Europe.
According to the agency, two separate incidents occurring between July 14 and 18 resulted in 144 people either dead or unaccounted for. A total of 387 survivors were pulled to safety.
Mauritania’s coast guard reported that 122 people vanished near the waters off the capital city of Nouakchott. Officials said the vessel, which was carrying 160 passengers from Gambia and heading toward the Canary Islands, ran out of fuel and drifted at sea for 25 days before help arrived.
In a second, unrelated incident, the coast guard rescued 179 people who had set out on a boat departing from Senegal on Saturday. The discrepancy between the total figures provided by different sources was not immediately explained.
Mauritania’s coastal waters have increasingly become a primary pathway for people from sub-Saharan Africa who are seeking better opportunities in Europe amid limited economic prospects in their home countries.
The UN agency described the stretch of ocean leading to the Canary Islands as “one of the world’s deadliest” migration routes, citing the vast distances involved and the use of overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels by those making the journey.
