NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) – Fifteen people were killed and more than 150 were missing after a boat carrying 300 passengers from Gambia capsized near Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott on Monday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said.
The Atlantic migration route from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, typically used by African migrants trying to reach Spain, is one of the world’s deadliest. Summer is its busiest period.
In a statement on Wednesday, the IOM said Mauritanian coastguards rescued 120 people and that 10 of them were urgently referred to hospitals while efforts to locate the missing continued.
(Reporting by Kissima Diagana; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Peter Graff and Jon Boyle)
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