According to Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry on Friday, at least 70 people have been killed after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of West Africa. This is one of the deadliest accidents in recent years along a popular migration route to Europe.
The ministry in a statement said another 30 people are feared dead after the vessel, believed to have departed from Gambia and carrying mostly Gambian and Senegalese nationals, sank off the coast of Mauritania early on Wednesday.
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The boat was estimated to be carrying 150 passengers, of whom 16 had been rescued. The statement added that Mauritanian authorities recovered 70 bodies on Wednesday and Thursday, and witness accounts suggest over 100 may have died.
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The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants trying to reach Spain, is one of the world’s deadliest.
According to the rights group Caminando Fronteras, over 46,000 irregular migrants reached the Canary Islands last year, a record, according to the European Union.
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More than 10,000 died attempting the journey, a 58% increase over 2023.
Gambia’s foreign affairs ministry implored its nationals to “refrain from embarking on such perilous journeys, which continue to claim the lives of many”.
