At least 17 Somali migrants have died after their boat capsized between Algeria and Spain, Somalia’s ambassador confirmed on Thursday.
The ambassador said he was contacted by distressed parents searching for missing children and seeking urgent information about relatives abroad.
The victims include 12 men and five women who drowned while attempting the dangerous journey to Europe from North Africa.
“I was reached by parents who were looking for their children and wanted to know their whereabouts,” he said officially.
The ambassador said he contacted the Algerian Foreign Ministry, which reported migrant deaths west of Algiers coastal province area identified.
He traveled to Bou Ismail early Thursday around 6 a.m., visiting two hospitals and seeing the recovered bodies firsthand there.
The route between North Africa and Spain remains one of the most dangerous migration paths toward Europe for migrants today.
Shipwrecks are frequent along these corridors, especially in the western Mediterranean and Atlantic, where thousands risk lives yearly annually now.
Somali migrants are increasingly undertaking such journeys driven by insecurity poverty and prolonged drought conditions at home in recent years.
Algerian authorities have not yet released full details of the tragedy including passenger numbers or how it capsized officially stated.