Overview

• An overloaded boat carrying roughly 160 people capsized overnight Tuesday to Wednesday about 80 kilometers north of Nouakchott, according to Mauritanian authorities.
• Coastguards report 69 bodies recovered and 17 survivors rescued, with search operations ongoing and the toll described as provisional.
• Officials say the vessel departed The Gambia about a week earlier with Senegalese and Gambian nationals on board, though earlier accounts referenced Guinea as the origin.
• The sinking follows a Human Rights Watch report alleging torture, arbitrary detention, extortion, and collective expulsions of migrants in Mauritania between 2020 and early 2025.
• The Atlantic route toward Spain’s Canary Islands remains one of the deadliest, with NGO Caminando Fronteras counting 10,457 deaths or disappearances at sea in 2024 as arrivals have slowed this year, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry.