No less than 89 migrants and refugees have died on their way to Europe, as their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania, state media reports.
The fishing boat capsized on Monday about 4km (2.4 miles) from Mauritania’s southwestern coastal city of Ndiago. The country’s coast guard retrieved 89 bodies and rescued nine people on Thursday, including a five-year-old girl, according to the state news agency.
Survivors quoted by state media said the boat had departed from the border of Senegal and Gambia with 170 people on board, giving the indication that 72 people are now missing. A top government official confirmed the information to the AFP news agency.
The boat reportedly capsized as a result of strong winds and high waves on the dangerous Atlantic route, notorious for its strong currents. Migrants usually travel in overloaded, often unseaworthy, boats without enough drinking water.
Earlier in the year, the European Union in an agreement with Mauritania, promised financial support worth 210 million euros to tackle migration and provide humanitarian aid for migrants.
The agreement was reached in the midst of an increase in the number of travelers setting off from the country towards Spain’s Canary Islands, situated around 100km (62 miles) off the northwest bank of Africa.
Over 5,000 deaths were reported while migrants were trying to reach Spain by sea in the first five months of this year, or the equivalent of 33 deaths per day, according to Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish charity. The vast majority were on the Atlantic route.
Source: Aljazeera
