The Moroccan Royal Navy rescued 42 migrants this Saturday who were on board a boat sailing off the coast of Western Sahara and heading towards the Canary Islands.
According to a military source, the boat was 200 kilometers southwest of the Sahrawi town of Dakhla and all its occupants were of Malian nationality.
According to the source, they had set sail on October 22 from the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, and their destination was the Canary Islands.
The 42 migrants have been taken safe and sound to the port of Dkhila (200 kilometers south of Dakhla), before being handed over to the Royal Gendarmerie for the usual administrative procedures for their repatriation, the source said.
It is the fourth boat intercepted in 24 hours by the Moroccan authorities in the waters of the Sahara, after this Friday they rescued another 391 sub-Saharan migrants on board three boats sailing through that area towards the Canary Islands.
On those occasions, the crew had set sail from Senegal and were of Senegalese, Gambian, Guinean and Malian nationality.
The Canary Islands are suffering a migratory crisis of people arriving in boats, with a record number in October, when more than 13,000 migrants were counted.
