Brazilian authorities investigating a tragic find of a boat carrying deceased individuals revealed that the victims were likely African migrants from Mali and Mauritania.
Fishermen off the northern coast of Para discovered the boat adrift in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday.
Brazil's Federal Police, who recovered nine bodies in total, stated late Monday that documents and items found near the victims suggested they were from the African continent, specifically from Mauritania and Mali, although other nationalities could also be among the deceased.
The roughly 12-meter (39-foot) white and blue canoe-shaped boat found in Brazil shares the same characteristics of Mauritanian fishing pirogues frequently used by West African migrants and refugees fleeing to Spain's Canary Islands, suggesting Brazil was probably not their destination.
The Atlantic route from West Africa to the European Union territory is one of the most dangerous in the world. Boats that miss their destination can be swept away by Atlantic trade winds and currents from east to west, drifting for months. Migrants aboard often die of dehydration and malnutrition. Others have also been known to jump into the ocean out of desperation.
An Associated Press (AP) investigation published last year revealed that in 2021, at least seven boats from northwest Africa had been found in the Caribbean and Brazil, all carrying dead bodies.
A 500% spike in migration from the northwest coast of Africa to Spain this year has alarmed European authorities. Despite a 210 million euro ($223.38 million) deal signed in February between the European Union and Mauritania, the majority of departures have taken place from the West African nation.
While more than 13,000 migrants have reached the Canaries so far in 2024, according to Spain's Interior Ministry, hundreds of others have been reported missing. In Mauritania, families have even set up a "national commission" charged with looking for the disappeared migrants. They have been following news of the boat found in Brazil anxiously, according to families who contacted the Associated Press.
Brazilian federal police say they are still working to identify the bodies and the cause of death, a difficult task given the advanced state of decomposition in which they were found.