Spain reports 50 Africans dead while trying to sail to Canary Islands
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
At least 50 Africans died while trying to sail from Senegal to the Canary Islands in a boat that was found Tuesday after spending more than two weeks adrift, Spanish police said.
It was one of the highest death tolls this year among Africans trying to escape poverty and reach Europe's southern gateway.
The boat was found in waters off Mauritania by a Mauritanian patrol boat, a Spanish Civil Guard official said.
It had set out from Senegal with 150 people aboard, and after it lost power and food and other supplies ran out, travelers started dying and were thrown overboard, the official said, quoting Mauritanian authorities.