Moroccan Navy rescues 54 migrants off Atlantic coast

On April 11, the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces issued a statement saying that the country's Navy had rescued 54 migrants from a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, 186 km south of the port of Dakhla.

Hải quân Morocco giải cứu 54 người di cư ngoài khơi Đại Tây Dương

Migrants from Africa use unsafe boats, risking the danger of crossing the sea, hoping to reach the promised land in Europe. (Source: Morocco News)

The naval unit responsible for coastal surveillance intercepted the boat, which was heading towards Spain's Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa, Morocco World News said in a statement.

The boat set off from the coast of the West African nation of Mauritania. The rescued migrants, who came from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, were handed over to the Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie for processing after receiving medical care.

Nearly two months earlier, Moroccan authorities announced that they had discovered eight bodies of migrants and rescued nine others after their boat sank off the northern coast of the country.

Morocco has become one of the main transit points for African migrants as they make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean or Atlantic in search of a better life in Europe.

According to official statistics, in 2023, the North African country's military forces arrested about 87,000 illegal migrants, most of whom originated from the sub-Saharan region of Africa.

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