Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Europe’s militarised borders blasted as 50 refugees drown in the Atlantic trying to reach the Canary Islands
The sole survivor rescued by Mauritanian authorities after eight days at sea [IOM]

REFUGEE-rights organisations blamed Europe’s militarised borders today as news broke of refugee shipwrecks off the west coast of Africa.

Around 50 refugees are reported to have died while attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from Western Sahara in two separate boats on Thursday.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) confirmed the deaths of 27 people whose bodies were found in the Atlantic Ocean by the Mauritanian coastguard.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
PAWNS IN A POLITICAL GAME: Migrants who crossed into Spain from Morocco sleep on a Ceuta beach, August 3 2026
Features / 6 August 2026
6 August 2026

CARLOS MARTINEZ shows how EU, Israel and US shenanigans were used in an attempt to destabilise Spain’s mildly socialist government

asylum-seekers need safer routes
Small boat crossings / 4 August 2026
4 August 2026
The United Nations at the General Assembly hall at UN headquarters
Northwest Africa / 22 July 2026
22 July 2026