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
Rescuers from the Ocean Viking approach a deflating rubber b
Borders / 13 August 2025
13 August 2025
Ralah Mohamed Salim
Northwest Africa / 14 July 2025
14 July 2025

We must remember Morocco’s land grab of the Sahrawi people’s territory continues with French and British support, writes BERT SCHOUWENBURG, looking into the origins of the annexation