World News
DAKAR, Aug 6 (Reuters) – A boat carrying around 40 migrants and refugees has sunk off the coast of Mauritania, leaving only one survivor, the United Nations refugee company UNHCR stated on Thursday.
The treacherous sea passage from West Africa to the Canary Islands was once a major path for migrants seeking jobs and a better life in Europe. Attempts ended up being scarcer when Spain stepped up patrols in the mid-2000 s, however the route is seeing a fresh surge.
” New shipwreck off the coast of Nouadhibou #Mauritania of around 40 persons on board, there is one survivor (from Guinea),” tweeted UNHCR unique envoy Vincent Cochetel.
UNHCR “together with authorities & partners are attempting to step up efforts to avoid such catastrophes, but traffickers keep lying to their customers,” he said.
The boat was bring migrants and refugees, a UNHCR spokesperson verified.
Nearly 2,800 unlawful migrants shown up by boat in the Canary Islands in between Jan. 1 and July 14, Spanish Interior Ministry data show, 5 times as lots of as in the same duration in2019
Late last year, a minimum of 62 individuals drowned off the Mauritanian coast and around 80 needed to swim for shore after the boat bring them northwards from Gambia sank – one of the most dangerous incidents along the path in recent years. f (Reporting by Alessandra Prentice; modifying by Jonathan Oatis)
