At least 70 people died when a boat carrying immigrants sank on the West African coast, the Gambia Foreign Ministry said on Friday night (30) in one of the deadliest accidents of recent years in a popular migration route to Europe.
Another 30 people may have died after the vessel, which believes to be departed from Gambia and mainly transported Gambian and Senegalese citizens, sank on the coast of Mauritania on Wednesday morning, the ministry said in a statement.
The ship carried about 150 passengers, 16 of which were rescued. Mauritan authorities recovered 70 bodies on Wednesday and Thursday, and witness reports suggest that more than 100 may have died, according to the statement.
The Atlantic Migration Route from the West African coast to the Canary Islands, usually used by African immigrants trying to arrive in Spain, is one of the deadliest in the world.
More than 46,000 irregular immigrants arrived at the Canary Islands last year, a record, according to the European Union. More than 10,000 people died trying to travel, an increase of 58% compared to 2023, according to the Human Rights Group Camando Fronoras.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has begged its citizens to “refrain from embarking on such dangerous trips that they continue to reap the lives of many people.”
