Mauritania coastguard rescues more than 300 migrants in Atlantic

Mauritania’s coastguard said on Friday it had rescued more than 300 migrants, including 40 children, from an overloaded boat drifting off the west African country’s Atlantic coast.

In recent months, hundreds of migrants, mostly from Senegal, The Gambia and Mali, have been rescued in Mauritanian waters while attempting to reach Europe. Hundreds more have died or gone missing after their boats sank.

The migrants were “in a difficult humanitarian situation” when they were rescued during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, the coastguard said in a statement.

The wooden pirogue had set off from The Gambia carrying 315 people — 191 from Senegal, 123 from The Gambia and one from Mali, it said.

“Among these people are men, women and minors, including infants, who find themselves in a difficult humanitarian situation,” the coastguard said.

They were rescued off the fishing port of Nouadhibou, the country’s economic capital.

A coastguard official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the vessel had been drifting when it was rescued.

The rescue came days after Mauritanian coastguards saved 42 migrants, including women and children, from another drifting boat after it experienced engine trouble.

Thousands of people have attempted the perilous Atlantic route for years, travelling in overloaded and often dilapidated boats in an effort to reach Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands.