At least five Moroccan nationals have died in the latest shipwreck off Western Sahara, according to a rights group. Attempts by migrants to reach Europe from Africa's northwest coast are on the rise.
At least five Moroccans drowned when their boat sank off the coast of Western Sahara, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said on Tuesday (July 25). The group's Mohamed Zendour said the boat had been carrying about 60 people when it got into trouble near Dakhla, according to news agency AFP.
"The vessel (...) capsized not far from the coast due to waves," Zendour said, adding that the death toll could rise.
Moroccan authorities did not immediately comment on the incident, AFP reported.
The latest tragedy comes only three days after at least six people died on Saturday in a shipwreck off northern Morocco. Nearly 900 others, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, were also rescued by the Moroccan Navy in the week to July 17.
Pushed to take treacherous routes
The number of migrants – including Moroccan nationals – leaving in boats from Morocco towards Europe has recently seen a sharp increase.
Pushed by failing economies, poor job prospects, extremist violence, political unrest, and the adverse effects of climate change as well as other factors, many migrants risk their lives on overcrowded boats to reach Spain's Canary Islands.
The majority of boats trying to reach the Canaries set off from southern Morocco, about 150 kilometers away, or from Mauritania or Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was largely annexed by Morocco in 1975.
Atlantic crossings began surging in late 2019 after increased patrols along Europe's southern coast dramatically reduced Mediterranean crossings. In 2020, the UN migration agency IOM registered just over 23,000 migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands. In 2021 it fell slightly to 22,000 and last year, there were around 15,000.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 7,700 migrants from Africa have been counted as arrivals on the Canaries this year (as of July 16).
Spain's coast guard on Tuesday (July 25) said it had rescued a group of migrants in a boat off the island group, pulling 83 people to safety but also finding the bodies of a man and a woman who had died en route.
with AFP