At least 89 bodies have been found off the coast of Mauritania after a boat carrying migrants sank this week, the state’s government said. news agency of the West African country.

The route followed by migrants along the coast of West Africa to reach the Canary Islands and Spain is one of the deadliest in the world.

According to the Mauritanian news agency, the bodies of 89 people aboard the ship have been found, while nine people, including a five-year-old girl, were saved.

A total of 170 migrants were on board the ship.

Yali Fal, the president of the fishermen’s association in the town Diego, however, he reported that the dead amount to 105 and that the residents of the area have been burying the bodies they find on the coast since Monday.

“For three days now, we have been burying the dead“, he said.

Nearly 5,000 migrants died at sea in the first five months of 2024 trying to reach the Canary Islands, according to the migrant rights group Walking Borders.

Arrivals to the Spanish archipelago increased fivefold during this period, compared to last year, to more than 16,500, according to figures from Spain’s interior ministry.