One-hundred-and-ten West African migrants, including 12 women and three children, were rescued off Mauritania on Tuesday after their boat's engine broke down, the Mauritanian coastguard said.
After setting sail from The Gambian capital, Banjul, in hopes of reaching Europe, the vessel "suffered a breakdown on the high seas" off the coast of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, the coastguard said in a statement.
"The rescue operation took place about eight nautical miles (15 kilometres) from the shore in difficult weather conditions," the statement said.
Eighty Malians, 12 Senegalese, 10 Gambians, four Mauritanians, three Ivorians and a Nigerian were among those rescued in the operation, which lasted from 1:00 am to 9:00 am (0100 to 0900 GMT) on Tuesday.
International immigration authorities reveal that thousands of African migrants have died or disappeared while trying to reach Europe via the Atlantic Ocean in recent years.
