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More than 140 dead or missing in Mauritania migrant boat incidents, UN says

Confiscated pirogues used for illegal migration are seen at a Mauritanian Coast Guards outpost in Nouadhibou, on April 23, 2026. Thousands of West Africans have ended up in Nouadhibou, Mauritania's economic capital, hoping to board pirogues to Spain's Canary Islands, just two days away by sea. But their journey came to an abrupt halt once this vast desert country on the Atlantic, a transit point for many migrants, cracked down on migratory movements. Raids to check papers, mass pushbacks, coastal surveillance, arrests of smugglers: departures have plummeted over the past year. A few months after signing a partnership with the European Union on migration management, Mauritania launched a sometimes brutal campaign of migrant expulsions, at the cost of human rights violations that have outraged its neighbors.  (Patrick Meinhardt/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS)
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German Press Agency

GENEVA — More than 140 people have died or gone missing in several incidents off the coast of Mauritania after trying to cross from West Africa to Europe, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The route to the Canary Islands “remains one of the deadliest in the world” due to the long distances, the conditions at sea, unseaworthy and overcrowded boats, and the limited chances of rapid rescue, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said.

In recent days, Mauritanian authorities reported that a boat carrying approximately 160 people, which had departed from Gambia, was in distress after running out of fuel after more than three weeks at sea. The people were left with no food or water and were forced to drink seawater.

Thirty-seven people were rescued, one body was recovered, and 122 others remain missing, Mauritania’s Ministry of Fisheries reported.

In a separate incident, Mauritanian authorities rescued all 179 people aboard a boat that had departed from neighboring Senegal during a coastguard operation. The UNHCR said that more than 380 people were safely brought ashore following three separate incidents over the course of a week.

According to the U.N., 4,400 people have arrived in the Canary Islands this year via irregular crossings - a decrease of about 60% compared to the previous year.

After record numbers in 2024, the figure had already declined last year. Stricter controls and agreements between the European Union and Spain with North and West African countries are cited as reasons for the decrease.