A migrant boat disaster near Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott, has left at least 15 people dead and over 195 missing, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). So far, the Mauritanian coastguard has rescued 120 individuals, including unaccompanied children, with efforts ongoing to rescue the missing persons. The boat had departed from Gambia a week earlier enroute to the Canary Islands. The nationalities of the deceased remain unspecified, and the cause of the capsizing is unknown. The tragedy highlights the increasing use of the West Atlantic Route for migration, with over 19,700 migrants arriving in the Canary Islands this year compared to 7,590 in the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has recorded over 4,500 deaths and disappearances on this route since 2014.
SOURCE: CNN
