47 migrants found dead off coast of Nouadhibou

Nouakchott: Forty-seven migrants were found dead off the coast of Nouadhibou, northwest Mauritania, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced in a joint statement.

According to the statement received on Thursday by Xinhua news agency, a boat carrying the migrants left on August 3 from North Africa's Atlantic coast for the Canary Islands and was carrying 54 people, including three children.

"After two days at sea, an engine failure left the passengers stranded without food or water for almost two weeks. When they were spotted by the Mauritanian coast guards on August 16, only seven people were still alive, four of them in critical condition," the statement said.

The tragedy came 10 days after the death of 40 other migrants on the same route, the two agencies added. (IANS)

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