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Mauritania Says At Least 70 Dead After Canary-Bound Boat Sinks With 17 Survivors Found

Search teams are working off M'haijratt with casualty figures uncertain.

Overview

  • The Mauritanian Coast Guard reports ongoing search-and-recovery operations near M'haijratt, about 60 kilometers north of Nouakchott.
  • Authorities told El País they have recovered at least 70 bodies, while La Vanguardia cites roughly twenty and the NGO Caminando Fronteras reports 40.
  • Caminando Fronteras says 144 people were aboard with 16 survivors, figures that diverge from official tallies.
  • Survivor accounts indicate the group departed Gambia about six days earlier and was headed to the Canary Islands.
  • Most aboard were reportedly Gambian and Senegalese, and the Atlantic route is among the deadliest, with about 46,000 arrivals last year and 9,757 deaths recorded by the NGO.