The 168 migrants rescued last Thursday by the Civil Guard patrol boat Río Tagus off the coast of Mauritania and who were heading back to Senegal, have begun to disembark in the port of the city of Saint Louis, on the northwest coast of the country.
Sources from the Ministry of the Interior have explained that the patrol boat arrived hours ago in Saint Louis where they have begun transferring the migrants ashore in groups to another smaller boat, since the Río Tajo patrol boat could not travel the 50 meters that separate the pontoon. due to the shallow depth of water.
The patrol boat, which had been anchoring for four days in the bay of Nouadhibou, set course for Senegal on Monday after Mauritania refused to accept the rescued migrants. The Government has communicated that this refusal does not “cloud relations and cooperation on migration” with the African country and has opted for the transfer of the 168 immigrants to Senegal, the country from which the rescued canoe originally left for the Canary Islands.
Previously, Interior reported that the crew of the ‘Tajo River’ has at all times ensured the safety and health of the people rescued, even establishing a shift system so that the rescued could contact their families.
However, professional associations of the Civil Guard have reported moments of tension, with agents firing deterrent shots into the air “in the face of a possible mutiny.” They have also criticized the “dire conditions” that the civil guards and migrants have suffered these days, which they attribute to the lack of cooperation from Mauritania.
