Following a migrant boat capsize off the coast of Mauritius, at least 89 bodies have been discovered

Following this week’s capsize of a migrant boat off the coast of Mauritania, the leader of a fishing association and the state press agency of the West African nation reported the recovery of at least 89 bodies.

One of the deadliest migratory routes in the world runs across the Atlantic, from the coast of West Africa to the Canary Islands, where most African migrants attempt to reach Spain. It is busiest in the summer.

According to Mauritania’s official news agency, the coast guard found the bodies of 89 migrants who were on a boat with 170 passengers, all of them were headed for Europe on Thursday.

Nine people were reportedly saved, one of them a five-year-old daughter.

No one was able to get in touch with the Mauritanian authorities to comment.

The hamlet of Ndiago in the southwest has 105 fatalities, according to Yali Fall, president of the fishermen association. Since Monday, residents have been burying bodies that have been recovered off the coast.

“For three days, we buried the dead whose bodies were found,” he stated.

The migration rights organization Walking Borders reported in June that an extraordinary 5,00 migrants perished at sea in the first five months of 2024 while attempting to reach the Canary Islands.

According to figures from the Spanish interior ministry, arrivals to the archipelago increased five times to around 16,500 over that time frame.