DAKAR, Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Twenty-seven people died after the
engines on their migrant vessel failed, leaving them stranded off the
coast of Mauritania, the United Nations said on Friday.
The UN’s refugee agency and the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) said in a joint statement that they were “deeply
saddened at the tragic death of 27 people”.
A boat en route towards Spain’s Canary Islands ran into engine
trouble between the northern Mauritanian city of Nouadhibou and the
city of Dakhla in Western Sahara, according to the statement.
“Those on board were left stranded at sea and began suffering from
extreme dehydration,” it added.
The incident occurred “some days ago,” the UN said, although the
exact date remains unclear.
Mauritanian coastguards rescued a lone survivor, a Guinean man,
near Nouadhibou on Thursday.
He initially said that he had been travelling with about 40 other
people — all of whom leapt into the sea when help failed to arrive.
He later clarified that there had been 28 people on board,
according to the UN refugee agency’s Africa spokesman, Charlie Yaxley.
Migrants have increasingly opted to risk the perilous route from
West Africa to the Canary Islands in recent years, as authorities have
clamped down on crossings from Libya to Europe.
The Atlantic route is especially dangerous as shoddy migrant
vessels have to ply the ocean in order to reach the Spanish islands.
At least 170 people are known to have died trying to reach the
Canary Islands in 2019, according to the IOM, compared to 43 the
previous year.
“These deaths are preventable, and they are avoidable,” Vincent
Cochetel, the UN refugee agency’s special envoy for the central
Mediterranean, said in the statement.
“We must take action to target the smugglers and traffickers who
offer false promises to migrants and refugees of safe passage to
Europe.” — NNN-AGENCIES
