Maritime Accident: Five Mauritanians Missing after Fishing Boats Collision off Mauritania
Five Mauritanian crew members are missing following a maritime accident involving two fishing boats off the coast of Mauritania in West Africa, according to the Mauritanian coast guard and Spain’s maritime rescue service. The collision occurred in the Atlantic Ocean between the Gambia-flagged “Grey Whale” and the Mauritanian “Tafra 3.”
Twenty-one people, including three Spanish nationals, were rescued from the Atlantic waters after the fishing boat collision, a Mauritanian coast guard source said. Spanish maritime rescuers initially identified the Gambia-flagged vessel as the “Right Whale.”
The Tafra 3 sank after the collision, resulting in five of its 26 crew members being reported missing. All five missing crew members are Mauritanian nationals, according to the Mauritanian coast guard and a spokesman for the Spanish maritime rescue service.
“There are five disappeared people of Mauritanian nationality; three Spanish citizens have been saved,” the spokesman said.
One of the missing Mauritanian crew members was an officer, the Mauritanian coast guard source said.
A Mauritanian coast guard patrol boat was sent to the scene to coordinate search and rescue operations. Several fishing boats also joined the effort, while a Spanish helicopter assisted with the search.
Mauritanian authorities have opened an investigation into the maritime collision to establish how the crash occurred.
According to the Galicia region’s government, two of the three Spanish nationals rescued were captains aboard the ship, while the third was an engineer.
