Migrant boat capsizes off Mauritania, killing 69

A boat carrying migrants capsized off Mauritania’s coast this week, leaving 69 dead and 17 rescued, a senior coastguard official told AFP. The vessel, carrying some 160 people from The Gambia, overturned late Tuesday when passengers rushed to one side after spotting coastal lights north of Nouakchott. Many on board were Gambian and Senegalese nationals.

Thousands of migrants die each year attempting the Atlantic route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, one of the deadliest migration paths to Europe. The NGO Caminando Fronteras recorded more than 10,400 deaths on the crossing in 2024, an average of 30 per day. Ramshackle boats, long distances, and powerful ocean currents make the journey perilous.

Mauritania has become a key staging post for migrants from across Africa, but Human Rights Watch this week accused its security forces of abuses including torture and rape against migrants over the past five years. The group criticised the EU and Spain for outsourcing migration control to Mauritanian authorities.