Two fishing vessels collided off Mauritania’s coast on Friday, leaving five Mauritanian crew members missing and sparking an urgent rescue effort. The Spanish maritime rescue service confirmed the accident on Saturday, reporting that 21 people, including three Spaniards, survived the violent crash at sea.
The collision involved the ships Right Whale and Tafra 3, with the latter sinking swiftly after impact, forcing desperate crew into the Atlantic. Of the 26 sailors aboard Tafra 3, five remain unaccounted for, according to Mauritanian authorities cited by the Spanish rescue service.
“There are five disappeared people of Mauritanian nationality; three Spanish citizens have been saved,” a spokesman told AFP. The survivors included two captains and an engineer from Spain’s Galicia region, officials said, highlighting the peril faced by both crews.
Galician authorities issued a statement expressing “hopes” that the missing sailors would be found, underscoring the uncertainty haunting their families. The search unfolded in treacherous waters, where each passing hour weighed heavily on hopes of survival beneath the relentless Atlantic waves.
For Mauritania’s fishing communities, the disaster deepens anxieties in a livelihood already bound to the sea’s unforgiving rhythms and dangers. Rescue teams continued scanning the crash site, where silence and salt spray now mark the spot of the vanished five sailors. As families wait for news, the tragedy serves as another reminder of the perilous bond between coastal nations and the open sea.
