NOUAKCHOTT, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The Mauritanian coast guard has rescued 216 migrants in two separate operations off the country's Atlantic coast, while more than 120 people remain missing from one of the boats, according to statements issued by the coast guard.
In the latest operation on Saturday, the coast guard rescued 179 migrants aboard a boat that had departed Senegal for Spain's Canary Islands.
The passengers included 168 Senegalese, four Gambians, five Ghanaians and two Malians, among them four women and eight children. Those requiring medical treatment were taken to a hospital in the northwestern port city of Nouadhibou.
In a separate operation, a coast guard patrol vessel located another migrant boat in distress in Mauritanian territorial waters on Friday evening, following a two-day search launched after distress messages were relayed through local artisanal fishing networks.
The coast guard rescued 37 people and recovered one body before the boat sank.
The survivors said the boat had left Banjul, capital of The Gambia, with about 160 people on board and was heading for the Canary Islands when it suffered a mechanical failure and ran out of fuel.
The boat then drifted southward for about 25 days. Its supplies of food and drinking water ran out after about 10 days, forcing those on board to drink seawater, according to accounts cited by the coast guard.
The survivors included 22 Senegalese, seven Gambians and eight Guineans. They were taken to Nouadhibou, where seven people were hospitalized.
Search operations are continuing for the missing passengers, the coast guard said. ■