A group of 168 migrants stranded for nearly five days on board a Spanish Civil Guard boat is to be sent back to Senegal, where most of them are from. Reports emerged on Monday afternoon indicating that the standoff over the Spanish boat, which has been anchored in the bay of Nouadhibou in Mauritania, had been resolved.

Translation: 'Update: the 168 people rescued in the Atlantic and who have been in a Civil Guard patrol boat since Thursday will be transferred to Senegal, where the majority come from. Mauritania has refused to allow a landing that was necessary and urgent.'

The Civil Guard union, AUGC, also announced on X (Twitter) that the migrants were to be returned to Senegal.

The situation on board the civil guard vessel had been worsening, with some migrants going on a hunger strike in protest at the conditions. Journalists had reported that their mental and physical situation was "very worrying". Authorities on board the boat had even fired shots into the air, apparently to discourage the migrants from rioting.

The migrants had been rescued at sea about 150 kilometers off the coast of Mauritania last Thursday (August 24), according to the Spanish newspaper El País. They were tranferred to a Spanish Civil Guard vessel, but Mauritanian authorities refused to allow the boat to bring the rescued migrants to shore.

The announcement that the migrants would be returned to Senegal followed negotiations on Monday between Mauritania and Spain. The two countries have long cooperated to prevent migrants from attempting to reach Spain's Canary Islands.

According to El País, since 2016, Spain has provided the northwest African nation with over €10 million per year to control irregular migration. The funds cover police training, purchase of equipment and fuel costs. In addition, Mauritania allows the Spanish Civil Guard to operate two ships, a helicopter and land patrols within its territory to prevent migrants from departing.

It is unclear how the return of the migrants to Senegal will take place: this option had earlier been ruled out by the professional association of the Civil Guard, the AUGC. It had also said that taking the migrants to the Canary Islands would be impossible due to bad weather.

Read more: Senegal: Is political crisis pushing more migrants to depart?

Recent months have seen an increase in the number of migrants departing from Senegal, who have to navigate past Mauritania to reach the Canaries. In July, a group of migrants set off from Senegal heading for the Canaries archipelago but drifted off course, ending up near the Cape Verde islands, where they were discovered a month later. More than 60 people died in the tragedy.