At least 15 migrants drown off Mauritania

At least 15 African migrants have drowned off Mauritania trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands, rescuers said yesterday as they searched local beaches for more victims.

Mauritanian officials said 14 bodies were washed up ashore near the capital Nouakchott on Saturday, the latest victims from a flood of Sub-Saharan illegal migrants heading for Europe in rickety, open fishing boats. These often capsize and sink.

Another body was picked up yesterday and rescuers were looking for more. Most of Saturday's victims were believed to come from neighbouring Senegal.

"We can't rule out that the sea may throw up more bodies," Abdoul Aziz Sall, regional chief of Mauritania's Civil Protection Service said.

A further 179 would-be migrants travelling in boats, mostly Senegalese, were rescued by Mauritanian authorities and were being sent back to the border by bus, officials said.

Thousands of young, poor West Africans have been setting off from the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal in boats to try to illegally sneak into Europe to seek work and a better life and send money home to their families.

More than 18,000 West African migrants have reached the beaches of the Spanish Canary Islands since the start of the year, almost four times the figure for the whole of last year.

Many migrants die by drowning or from hunger, thirst and exhaustion on the perilous sea journey of more than 1,000 km to the Canaries. At least 17 were killed earlier this month when a gas bottle exploded on their boat.

Spain, one of the European countries most affected by the influx, has launched a diplomatic offensive in West Africa to sign accords with regional governments on cooperation measures to fight the problem.

Madrid signed a deal with Senegal last week to deploy mixed European-Senegalese coastal patrols to try to halt the exodus. Spain has a similar accord with Mauritania.