47 West African migrants probably died at sea as they tried to reach Europe aboard a boat that drifted for two weeks before being recovered off Mauritania with seven survivors, said Tuesday. August 17 the Coast Guard and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
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This is a new drama on the Atlantic migration route, taken each year by thousands of Africans fleeing poverty or war for Europe via the Spanish Canary Islands, despite the dangerous nature of the journey. undertaken aboard modest boats or canoes made available by illegal smugglers paying for the trip.
More than 370 people have already been killed on this route since the start of the year, according to the IOM.
Seven survivors
The Mauritanian coast guard spotted the drifting boat, with six men and a woman, off Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania near the border with Western Sahara on Monday at noon, one of their officials said. They were part of an initial group of 54 people from different West African countries. "
The others have all died of hunger and thirst after having exhausted their provisions,
" he said on condition of anonymity, in accordance with widespread practice on security issues in Mauritania. The group consisted of 43 men and 11 women, Malians, Senegalese, Ivorians, Mauritanians and Guineans, IOM said. Among them were two children under three and a teenage girl, all three missing.
The boat left "
in all likelihood
" from the region of Laâyoune (Western Sahara) on August 3 for the Canaries, but suffered engine damage, reported an IOM official in Mauritania, Nicolas Hochart. on the phone by AFP. Another IOM official located their departure at Tan-Tan, about 300 km further north, in Morocco, opposite the Canary Islands archipelago. “
The trip, if all goes well, it will take a few days at most (...). From the moment the engine failed, they found themselves without reserve
"of water and food, underlined Nicolas Hochart. The deceased are commonly thrown into the sea by the survivors.
The survivors, an Ivorian, three Senegalese, two Malians and a Guinean, received relief and care from IOM and the French Red Cross.
Four were hospitalized in critical condition, according to IOM.
376 dead or missing since the start of the year
This route passing through the Atlantic and the west coast of Africa to the Canaries, the gateway to Europe, is with the Mediterranean one of the privileged routes taken each year by African migrants driven by poverty. , wars, persecutions or the hope for a better life.
It is a very dangerous journey: IOM has counted 376 dead or missing on this route since the beginning of the year, against 306 over the same period in 2020. The real number is probably much higher, given the difficulty in identifying shipwrecks and the number of passengers on board each boat.
Read also: Mauritania: 47 migrants missing at sea
The NGO Caminando Fronteras, for its part, estimated in July at nearly 2,100 the number of dead migrants, mainly West Africans, during the first half of the year trying to reach Spain, 90% of whom were on the road. of the Canaries.