Eighty-four African would-be immigrants drowned off Mauritania last Saturday when their boats sank attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, Spanish news reports said on Wednesday.
Mauritanian fishermen and rescuers retrieved the bodies from the sea and beaches near the capital Nouakchott, according to the radio station Cadena Ser.
Two boats sank off the coast of West Africa over the weekend.
Seventeen bodies were found on Sunday, but the number has now climbed to 84, according to the report.
An estimated 150 people were on board. Eighteen of the boat’s passengers were known to have survived. Most of the migrants were believed to be Senegalese.
Spanish officials earlier said that 490 bodies have been retrieved from the sea off the Canaries and West Africa this year.
Up to 3 000 people are estimated to have drowned while heading for the Canaries, which have received nearly 19 000 Africans so far in 2006. – Sapa-DPA