A migrant boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania earlier this week, killing 69 people, officials told AFP on Friday.
The accident happened late on Tuesday night when the migrants, spotting the lights of a town about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the capital Nouakchott, rushed to one side of the vessel, causing it to overturn, a senior coastguard official said.
A patrol managed to rescue 17 people, while the death toll, initially reported at 49, was later revised to 69.
According to survivors, the boat had left The Gambia a week earlier carrying about 160 people, including nationals from Senegal and The Gambia.
Drownings remain common during the dangerous sea crossings between Africa and Europe, with powerful currents and fragile boats making the route particularly deadly. The NGO Caminando Fronteras reported that at least 10,457 migrants died attempting to reach Spain by sea in 2024.
Officials did not confirm the intended destination of the vessel involved in Tuesday’s tragedy.
This latest disaster follows several similar incidents this month. On 4 August, at least 76 people died and dozens went missing when a boat carrying mostly Ethiopian migrants sank off Yemen in the Gulf of Aden. Yemeni officials said 32 survivors were rescued from the vessel, which carried 157 people.
On 13 August, at least 20 migrants died after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said the vessel was carrying 97 people when it sank 14 miles southwest of Lampedusa. Italian media reported that a baby girl, aged just 18 months, was among the missing.