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Migrants land in Mauritania
12/02/2007 19:57 - (SA)
Nouakchott - A group of 372 Asian and African migrants stranded at sea for more than a week started disembarking in Mauritania on Monday to be repatriated, said the Mauritanian Red Crescent.
They were aboard the vessel Marina 1 for eight days off the northern coast of Mauritania since they were discovered by a Spanish vessel after sending out a distress signal.
They were believed to be heading for Spain's Atlantic Canary Islands archipelago, a stepping stone into the European Union (EU).
The vessel, towed by a Spanish ship, docked "at the end of the morning" following a weekend agreement between Madrid and Nouakchott, said the Red Crescent's Ahmedou Ould Haye.
The migrants "disembarked in groups of 20, received treatment, food and clothing before boarding a bus for the airport under the Spanish police escort," said Ould Haye.
None of the migrants needed hospitalisation, he said.
Ould Haye said that under the terms of the agreement between Spain and Mauritania, the immigrants, must board four Spanish planes which are waiting at Nouadhibou airport to repatriate them "within four hours".
Boat heading for the Canaries
The planes will take home the 337 Asians in the group: 305 Indians from Kashmir, 22 nationals of Myanmar and 10 Sri Lankans as well as the 35 Africans (23 from Ivory Coast, 10 from Sierra Leone and two from Liberia).
The Red Crescent and the Spanish Red Cross which sent doctors to assess the health of the group provided five tons of food to the passengers on the boat last Thursday to see them through the five days to Monday.
The boat left Ivory Coast or Guinea, according to different versions, and was heading for the Canaries when it got into trouble.
Meanwhile Moroccan authorities said another boat with 44 people from sub-Saharan Africa was found drifting off the coast of Western Sahara after its engine broke down.
One dead body was also aboard the vessel, which appeared to have come from the Mauritanian port city of Nouadhibou and was also heading for the Canaries.
It was found by Moroccan security forces off Boujdour, 180km south of El Ayoun, the capital of the Moroccan-ruled former Spanish colony.
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