Mali says 70 missing after migrant boat sank between Morocco and Spain

NEWS WIRES

26 December 2024 at 9:57 pm·1-min read

A boat from Senegal carrying 136 migrants arrives a at the port of La Restinga on the Canary Island of El Hierro, on November 28, 2024.

Authorities in Mali say a shipwreck off the coast of Morocco on December 19 left 70 people missing, including migrants from Mali. The vessel, carrying around 80 people, sank while en route to Spain. Eleven survivors were rescued.

The sinking of a vessel carrying migrants in Moroccan waters on December 19 left 70 people missing, including 25 from Mali, that country's government said on Thursday.

Around 80 migrants were on board the vessel heading for Spain, with "25 young Malians unfortunately identified among the victims", the government said in a statement.

Eleven people were rescued, nine of whom were from Mali, it said in the statement, which cited embassies in the region, officials, victims' families and survivors.

Thousands of migrants attempt perilous sea crossings from African shores each year in hopes of reaching Europe, often in flimsy makeshift vessels.

More than 10,400 migrants have died trying to reach Spain since 2024, including a record number heading for the Canary Islands, the Spanish migration NGO Caminando Fronteras said in a report on Thursday.

That was an average of about 30 a day, making it the deadliest year in the organisation's records.

But to avoid controls, smugglers sometimes take longer, more dangerous journeys, navigating west into the open Atlantic before turning north to the Canaries.

(AFP)

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