A boat carrying around 40 migrants and refugees sunk off the coast of Mauritania, leaving only one survivor, this is according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.
“New shipwreck off the coast of Nouadhibou #Mauritania of approximately 40 persons on board, there is one survivor (from Guinea),” tweeted UNHCR special envoy Vincent Cochetel.
While speaking to one of the locals at Mauritania, seeking anonymity he says that the reports of the number of people who sunk still remain largely inconclusive and are relying on the report by the UNHCR
Nearly 2,800 illegal migrants arrived by boat in the Canary Islands between Jan. 1 and July 14, Spanish Interior Ministry data show, five times as many as in the same period in 2019.
The UNHCR along with authorities and partners now say they are trying to step up efforts to prevent such tragedies but traffickers keep lying to their clients.
The perilous sea passage from West Africa to the Canary Islands was once a major route for migrants seeking jobs and a better life in Europe. Attempts became scarcer when Spain stepped up patrols in the mid-2000s, but the route is seeing a fresh surge.
