25 Days at Sea with the Dead: 144 Perish Off Mauritania in Heartbreaking Migrant Tragedy.
At least 144 migrants and refugees are dead or missing off the coast of Mauritania following a series of maritime rescues, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday.
The fatalities resulted from three separate operations conducted by authorities between July 14 and July 18 along the perilous Atlantic route to Europe, which resulted in 387 people being brought ashore alive.
The vast majority of the victims died aboard a single vessel that departed from Bufaloto, Gambia, and spent 25 days stranded at sea. When the ship was finally intercepted on July 18 near Nouadhibou, Mauritania, emergency workers recovered 38 survivors alongside 143 bodies.
Speaking at a UN briefing in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Matt Saltmarsh confirmed that the survivors included two young children who lost their entire families during the journey.
While the victims were identified as sub-Saharan African nationals, specific causes of death—such as dehydration, hunger, or exposure—have not yet been detailed.
In a separate rescue on July 14, another person was found dead upon arrival in Mauritania.
The latest incidents bring the total number of individuals rescued off the Mauritanian coast in 2026 to 2,147 across 17 distinct disembarkation events in Nouadhibou and the capital, Nouakchott.
The tragic losses come at a time when overall migrant and refugee sea arrivals in Europe have dropped significantly. UN data shows that just over 40,000 people reached Europe via major maritime routes in the first half of this year, compared to 65,407 during the same period in 2025.
Despite this one-third decline in overall traffic, UNHCR warned that mortality and disappearance rates remain at alarming levels, reiterating its call for expanded international investment in local education and legal labor opportunities to provide viable alternatives to high-risk sea crossings.
