At least 69 migrants have been confirmed dead and more than 70 remain missing after a vessel from The Gambia overturned off Mauritania’s coast earlier this week, according to the country’s coast guard. The updated death toll underscores the brutal risks facing those who attempt the Atlantic migration route to Europe.
The disaster unfolded late Tuesday into Wednesday near Lemhaijratt, roughly 80 kilometers north of Nouakchott, Mauritania’s capital. The vessel, a crowded wooden pirogue carrying about 160 people—mainly Gambians and Senegalese—had been at sea for a week.
Authorities explained that tragedy struck when passengers, spotting the lights of the shore, rushed en masse to one side of the already unstable boat. The sudden imbalance caused it to flip, hurling everyone into the ocean at night.
Initial reports indicated 49 bodies recovered and 17 survivors, but the revised toll issued Friday raised fatalities to 69. With search operations continuing, hopes of finding the roughly 74 still unaccounted for are fading.
This catastrophe reflects a deadly pattern. Mauritania, with its 700 km Atlantic coastline, has become a key stop for sub-Saharan migrants aiming for Spain’s Canary Islands. The journey is among the world’s most treacherous: boats are overcrowded, poorly equipped, and unfit for such distances.
The incident recalls a July 2024 wreck off Mauritania where dozens perished, part of a broader trend of mounting losses at sea. Data from Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish NGO, estimated that over 10,000 migrants died or disappeared in 2024 alone while attempting to reach Spain.
Even as Spain reports a 34% drop in arrivals in early 2025, the latest tragedy proves that reduced numbers do not mean reduced danger. In 2024, the Canary Islands received a record 46,843 arrivals—a stark reminder of both the scale of migration pressures and the lethal stakes of the Atlantic route.
Every figure represents a life cut short by desperation and systemic neglect. The persistence of these shipwrecks signals not only the peril of migration itself but also the absence of durable solutions to the crises—economic, political, and humanitarian—that drive thousands into the sea each year.
