By Carley Petesch
Dakar: At least 58 people are dead after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off the west African nation of Mauritania.
The incident on Wednesday (Thursday Australian time) is one of the deadliest disasters this year among migrants trying to make the perilous journey to Europe.
The boat carrying at least 150 people had been low on fuel while approaching Mauritania, the International Organisation for Migration said in a statement.
The UN agency said 83 people swam to shore, with survivors being helped by Mauritanian authorities in the northern city of Nouadhibou.
Survivors said the boat, with women and children on board, had left The Gambia on November 27.
An unknown number of injured were taken to hospital in Nouadhibou.
"The Mauritanian authorities are very efficiently co-ordinating the response with the agencies currently present in Nouadhibou," said Laura Lungarotti, chief of mission in Mauritania with the migration agency.
Gambians are still suffering after more than two decades of oppressive rule from former president Yahya Jammeh, who stepped down in 2016.Credit: AP
There was no immediate statement from authorities in The Gambia, a small west African nation from which many migrants set off in hopes of reaching Europe.
Despite The Gambia's small size, more than 35,000 Gambian migrants arrived in Europe between 2014 and 2018.
A 22-year oppressive rule by former president Yahya Jammeh severely affected the country's economy, especially for young people, and contributed greatly to the surplus of migrants hoping to get to Europe or elsewhere.
Since Jammeh was voted out in 2016 and fled into exile in January 2017, European countries have been pushing to return asylum seekers. But The Gambia's economy still suffers.
The coastal nation was shaken earlier this year by the collapse of British travel company Thomas Cook.
At the time, The Gambia's tourism minister said the government convened an emergency meeting on the collapse, while some Gambians said the shutdown could have a devastating impact on tourism, which contributes more than 30 per cent of the country's GDP.
AP