Small boats are packed with people trying to escape violence and poverty. The “West Atlantic” route is becoming increasingly dangerous for migrants Refugees and migrants
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is concerned about the growing number of migrants dying in shipwrecks while attempting to reach their destinations by sea across the Atlantic.
Dangerous Route
UNHCR said this on Friday in connection with another report of dozens of people missing or dead off the coast of Mauritania. A boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized on Monday, and many of them have remained missing since.
In recent months, the flow of migrants from North and West African countries, including Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco, has increased significantly. The Canary Islands are often the final destination for those making the desperate journey along the dangerous route.
“UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, is deeply saddened by this tragic shipwreck that has left many people dead or missing off the coast of Mauritania,” said spokesperson Shabia Mantoux.
The ship, which was sailing across the Western Atlantic, capsized near Nouakchott, leaving at least 15 people dead and many missing, she said.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), another UN agency that deals with people forced to flee their homes, about 300 people, including women and children, boarded a wooden pirogue boat in the Gambia after seven days at sea. how the tragedy occurred. The UN says this is the second fatal shipwreck in the region in July.
The so-called “Western Atlantic Route” off the coast of West Africa “is one of the deadliest routes in the world , on which thousands of migrants and refugees have drowned in recent years,” Mantoux told reporters in Geneva.
More than 76 boats carrying some 6,130 survivors have landed in Mauritania since June last year, while about 190 died at sea before the two most recent tragedies. danger or in difficult situations, so that they can move between countries and continents without risking their lives.
Missing migrants
Between January 1 and July 15, 2024 alone, more than 19,700 migrants entered the Canary Islands illegally via this route. During the same period in 2023, 7,590 migrants were registered.
Since 2014, the IOM Missing Migrants Project has documented more than 4,500 deaths and disappearances along this route, including more than 950 deaths last year, which was the second deadliest on record.