At Least 143 Migrants Feared Dead After Boat Capsizes Off Mauritania Coast
IOM says the tragedy is the deadliest recorded shipwreck on the Atlantic migration route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, with survivors reporting hundreds still missing.
- 143 migrants feared dead after boat capsizes off Mauritania
- 38 survivors rescued as one body is recovered
- IOM calls for safer migration routes to prevent further tragedies
At least 143 migrants are feared dead after a boat carrying about 180 people capsized off the coast of Mauritania, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The UN migration agency described the tragedy as the deadliest recorded shipwreck along the Atlantic migration route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.
The vessel reportedly departed from The Gambia and spent 25 days at sea before capsizing near the Mauritanian port city of Nouadhibou.
Mauritania’s Coast Guard rescued 38 survivors last Saturday and recovered one body. However, survivors said at least 143 other passengers were missing and are presumed dead.
Among those rescued were men, women and children from different West African countries. The IOM said two children lost their parents and a younger sibling during the perilous journey.
“Every life lost on this route is one life too many,” said Sylvia Ekra, the IOM Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
She expressed sympathy to families who lost loved ones and praised survivors who endured what she described as an unimaginable ordeal.
The latest disaster increases the number of reported deaths along the West African Atlantic migration route to the Canary Islands this year to 168, according to the IOM.
The figure does not include two suspected shipwrecks currently under investigation, which could have resulted in hundreds more deaths.
The IOM warned that a decline in the number of migrants reaching the Canary Islands should not be interpreted as a sign that the route has become safer.
The agency has called for stronger regional cooperation and increased access to safe and legal migration pathways to prevent further loss of lives.
