BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Brazilian police investigating the grim discovery of a boat full of bodies say the dead were likely African migrants from Mali and Mauritania.
Fishermen off the coastal state of Pará, northern Brazil I found the boat adrift Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean. Brazilian federal police said in a statement Monday evening that they had recovered a total of nine deaths.
“The documents and objects found near the bodies indicate that the victims were migrants from the African continent, the region of Mauritania and Mali,” we read in the press release. Police added that other nationalities could be among the victims.
The white and blue canoe-shaped boat about 12 meters long found in Brazil shares the same features as Mauritanian fishing canoes frequently used by West African migrants and refugees fleeing to Spain’s Canary Islands , suggesting that Brazil was probably not their destination.
The Atlantic route linking West Africa to the territory of the European Union is one of the most dangerous in the world. Ships that miss their destination can be swept away by the east-west Atlantic trade winds and currents, drifting for months. Migrants on board often die of dehydration and malnutrition. Others are also known to have jumped into the ocean out of desperation.
An Associated Press investigation published last year revealed that in 2021, at least seven boats from Northwest Africa had been found in the Caribbean and Brazil, all carrying dead bodies.
A 500% rise in migration from Africa’s northwest coast to Spain this year has alarmed European authorities. Despite a Agreement worth 210 million euros signed in February between the European Union and Mauritania, the majority of departures took place from this West African country.
While more than 13,000 migrants have reached the Canaries so far in 2024, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry, hundreds more have been reported missing. In Mauritania, families have even set up a “national commission” responsible for searching for missing migrants. They are anxiously following the news of the boat found in Brazil, according to families who contacted AP.
Brazil’s federal police say they are still working to identify the bodies and the cause of death, a difficult task given the advanced state of decomposition in which they were found.
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