One hundred and forty-one migrants of sub-Saharan African origin were rescued on Sunday after their clandestine vessel went adrift off the Mauritanian coastal city of Nouadhibou.
“These are 141 candidates for irregular migration, including 88 Senegalese, 44 Gambians (including 17 women and two children), four Guineans, and two Malians,” stated the Mauritanian Ministry of Fisheries in a statement detailing the operation.
“It is a vessel whose disoriented occupants no longer knew where to go, and whose movement was spotted by a sea patrol,” a Nouadhibou coast guard official told AFP.
The rescued individuals have been “taken into care by the competent services,” according to the Ministry of Fisheries.
Mauritania, a predominantly desert West African nation bordered by more than 700 km of Atlantic coastline, has become a major departure point in recent years for migrants from across the continent attempting to reach Europe by sea at the risk of their lives in search of a better future.
In August, at least 69 bodies were recovered and dozens of people were reported missing following the shipwreck of a boat carrying migrants off the coast of Mauritania. The vessel, which had come from The Gambia, had capsized.
In late July, the Mauritanian authorities reported rescuing several dozen West African migrants off their coast after their vessel broke down, eleven days after departing from Guinea.
Nearly 47,000 irregular arrivals were recorded in the Canary Islands archipelago in 2024, a record for the second consecutive year, as tightened controls in the Mediterranean Sea pushed migrants to attempt the Atlantic route.
AK/sf/lb/as/APA with AFP