A canoe carrying approximately 150 irregular migrants, mostly Gambian and Senegalese nationals, capsized during the night of August 27 off Lemhaisrat, about 117 km from Nouakchott.
The Gambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday that over 100 people are presumed dead.
According to the Gambian Embassy in Nouakchott, 16 people survived, including five Gambians. Nineteen bodies were recovered on August 27, followed by 51 more washed ashore on August 28, bringing the official confirmed death toll to 70. Mauritanian authorities and the Gambian embassy conducted rapid burials with the presence of gendarmes, police, firefighters, Red Cross personnel, and healthcare professionals.
Videos shared on social media show multiple bodies stranded on the shore, confirming the scale of the tragedy.
Separately, a second vessel, reportedly from Ndar in Senegal, was intercepted by Mauritanian authorities. All passengers survived, including five Gambians, bringing the total number of Gambian nationals assisted by local authorities to ten. The Gambian embassy said it is working with Mauritania and the IOM to ensure their safety and eventual return.
The Gambian Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged its citizens, particularly young people, to avoid such perilous journeys and announced plans to intensify awareness campaigns on the risks of irregular migration.
The latest tragedy comes amid a surge in dangerous crossings to Europe via the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Just days earlier, nearly 200 migrants attempted to swim to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, including women, children, and people with disabilities.
Humanitarian groups regularly warn about these increasingly hazardous routes, a direct consequence of stricter migration controls and the lack of legal pathways to Europe. This latest shipwreck underscores the extreme vulnerability of those seeking to migrate, willing to risk their lives to cross the European maritime border.
MK/ac/sf/lb/as/APA