According to the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, the boat left the Gambian coast around August 21, with mainly migrants from Senegal, Zambia and Gambia on board. After six days under extreme conditions at the sea, the boat captured, about 60 kilometers north of Nouakchott in Mauritania.
Search in Spain for twelve missing migrants: ‘jumped out of the boat to reach the coast’
It then seemed that the boat no longer set course for the Canary Islands, but tried to reach the African coast. It is not exactly known why. Aid organizations think that the people on board were perhaps looking for help.
All passengers to one side
Local media report that, according to surviving people, the boat is tilted when the passengers saw the lights of the coast. Then the majority would have walked to one side of the boat, causing the boat to get out of balance and eventually turned and sank.
Drama after capsizing migrant boat Canary Islands; at least seven dead
Among the saved person are young people aged 18 and 19. It is feared that there were minors on board. Specialized divers are preparing to inspect the sunken boat, although the hope of survivors is not great.
Little hope for survivors
The tragedy for the coast of Mauritania is one of the most serious so far this year on the route of the Canary Islands. In May of this year, a boat with 150 people off the coast of El Hierro captured, in which dozens of migrants were sitting in a bubble under the boat.
Child kicked on a migrant boat to England
Three girls and four women let life. In June last year, more than 80 migrants died during a shipwreck when their boat drove and they were found at sea after seventeen days, by an oil tanker and a cruise ship more than 600 kilometers from El Hierro.
Strong currents and high waves
The ‘atlantic route’ between the African coast and the Canary Islands is one of the deadly migration routes in the world because of the strong currents and high waves. Last year, when a record of 46,843 migrants washed on this route alive Las Canariasaccording to Caminando Fronteras, almost ten thousand migrants let life. This year the route is less busy than last year: in the first half of 2025 almost half fewer migrants arrived than in 2024, when 22,304 migrants made the crossing.
Route to Balearic Popular
The migration route to the Balearic Islands gained in popularity, here almost 5000 migrants were washed up this year, 77 percent more than in 2024. In August alone, more than a thousand migrants arrived by boat, on the route from Algeria. This week, twelve migrants were missing there who jumped out of their boat 60 kilometers from the Mallorca holiday island because they wanted to reach the coast while swimming.
Regional Prime Minister Marga Prohens of the Balearic Islands has said to regret the ‘continuing human tragedy’ on the coast of the Balearic Islands.