In a report on Thursday (July 4) the Mauritanian state news agency AMI said the coast guard had recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large traditional fishing boat that had capsized on Monday off the Atlantic coast.

The boat reportedly sank about four kilometers from the city of Ndiago in the country’s southwest.

Nine people were rescued, including a five-year-old girl.

According to AMI, as many as 72 people are believed to be missing, after survivors said that about 170 people had initially boarded the boat. They said they had left six days earlier from the border between Senegal and Gambia.

A senior local government official speaking on condition of anonymity, gave similar information to the Agence France Press news agency (AFP).

Also read: Mauritania – a new irregular migration gateway to Europe?

Canaries route more heavily used

The so-called Atlantic route used by people traveling from the West African coast to Spain’s Canary Islands is particularly dangerous due to strong currents.

The boats used are often unseaworthy and overcrowded, and migrants often run out of drinking water on the journey.

According to the 2024 World Migration Report by the IOM, "migrants (are) often stuck at sea for long periods on inadequate boats in areas of the Atlantic Ocean lacking dedicated rescue operations."

Nevertheless, the number of migrants taking this route has continued to rise in recent years, a factor said to be due to the increased vigilance of authorities in the Mediterranean Sea.

In 2023, 39,910 migrants reached the Canary Islands, more than twice as many as in the previous year, according to the Spanish government.

The latest figures, reported by the Spanish news agency Europa Press, indicate that last year’s record number could be surpassed this year, with 19,257 arrivals already recorded in the first six months of 2024, an increase of 167 percent on the same period in 2023.

National political issue

There are serious concerns about the estimated 5,600 unaccompanied minors effectively stranded on the Canaries because the Spanish regions are unwilling to take responsibility for them.

The island of Lanzarote this week declared a "social state of emergency" following a scandal over poor living conditions at a facility housing underage migrants. "There are currently no alternatives to accommodate these minors," a local government official said. 

Meanwhile a political scandal erupted on Thursday as a spokesperson for Spain’s main opposition People’s Party called for the navy to be deployed to block migrants from reaching Spain by sea.

"The government has the armed forces at its disposal to defend our borders and launch ships that can prevent cayucos [small wooden migrant ships] from putting people’s lives at risk, going out to sea and reaching our country," Miguel Tellado, spokesperson for the People's Party, told Spanish broadcaster Antena 3.

The Spanish Refugee Council CEAR responded that the proposal had no legal basis. "International maritime law requires that those in danger be rescued," it posted on X, adding that the PP’s call was merely a political maneuver.

The shortest distance from the coast of North Africa to the Canary Islands is around 100 kilometers. But many boats now leave from much farther away, setting sail from Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Gambia and Senegal.

More than 5,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea in the first five months of this year, or the equivalent of 33 deaths per day, according to Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish charity.

That is the highest daily number of deaths since it began collating figures in 2007, and the vast majority were on the Atlantic route.

With AFP