Mauritanian coast guards rescued 161 migrants, including 17 children, after the engine of their boat failed off the country’s coast, authorities said Thursday.
The migrants were rescued Tuesday after spending about eight days at sea aboard a boat that had departed from Banjul, the capital of Gambia, according to a statement posted on the Mauritanian coast guard’s Facebook page.
The group included 99 Senegalese nationals, among them six women and two children; 56 Guineans, including three men, 38 women and 15 children; and six Gambians, including two men and four women.
The coast guard said its units spotted the boat after it developed an engine failure and intervened to rescue everyone aboard.
“All the passengers are safe,” the statement said, although they were exhausted after the journey and the poor condition of the boat.
The migrants received medical and other assistance before being transferred to a reception center in Nouakchott, the statement said.
Mauritania has become a key departure and transit point for migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea, particularly the Canary Islands. Many migrants from West Africa undertake the dangerous Atlantic crossing in search of better economic opportunities as European countries tighten visa rules and strengthen border controls.
Hundreds of migrants have been rescued off Mauritania in recent months, many of them from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea and Mali. Hundreds more have died or gone missing in shipwrecks along the Atlantic migration route.
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