Spanish
Mauritanian coastguards rescued 119 migrant people off the Atlantic town of M’haijrat, located about 60 kilometers north of Nouakchott, Mauritania's Ministry of Fisheries reported on Monday.
The rescue operation took place on Sunday around 13:00 local time after the vessel, which had departed from Gambia on September 1, suffered a breakdown at sea.
The note adds that local fishermen alerted the coast guard, who came to the aid of the migrants, all unharmed, who were transferred to Nouakchott.
The group was made up of 54 Gambians (10 women), 50 Senegalese (one woman) and 15 Guineans (three women, including a pregnant woman).
Although the final destination of the vessel was not confirmed, it is presumed that it was heading to the Canary Islands, in Spain, one of the main arrival points for migrants in the region.
The town of M’haijrat was the scene, on August 27, of the shipwreck of another boat with more than a hundred sub-Saharan migrants on board. Mauritanian authorities rescued 17 survivors and recovered 71 bodies.
The migratory route from the African coast to the Canary Islands, known as the 'Atlantic route', is considered one of the most dangerous in the world, with thousands of deaths each year.
In 2024, 46,843 migrants arrived in Spain through this route, according to official data, while 9,757 lost their lives in the attempt, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
