News Center- At least 89 migrants died after their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania on Monday, the state news agency said on Thursday.

The boat capsized off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, about four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the country’s southwest city of Ndiago on July 1, the news agency reported. The boat left the Gambia-Senegal border six days ago and was bound for Europe, having at least 170 migrants on board, according to the news agency.

The Mauritanian coast guard recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large traditional fishing boat that capsized on July 1 on the coast of the Atlantic ocean about four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the country’s south-west city of Ndiago, the state news agency said.

According to the state-run news agency, 72 migrants are still missing.

More than 5,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea in the first five months of 2024, according to Caminando Fronteras, a non-governmental human rights organization based in Spain that has been focusing on the protection of migrants' rights since 2002.