At least 22 people have died trying to cross the precarious Atlantic waters to the Canary Islands. At least 14 bodies of attempted immigrants have been washed up on the shores of Nuakchott in the north african state of Mauritania. At the same time the security forces said that they intercepted 179 individuals of unstated ages without papers.

The bodies were washed up close to the Capital of Mauritanis without papers after their small boat became wrecked.
There has been no precise figure on the number of deaths caused by the trip of 200km to the canaries. It is thought that the figure is probably in the thousands.
Spain has repeated asked for help from the North African countries and the EU in controlling the immigration into Spain via this route. At least 17000 have entered the Canaries illegally since the beginning of this year.
It is thought that many more africans enter the EU illegally through the costas of Spain.
The Almerian coast has been quoted many times by the guardia by being used by human traffickers.
The Guardia Civil is investigating the deaths of seven immigrants whose bodies were found on local beaches recently. The first was discovered on Wednesday 2nd on the beach at Zahora, and it is possible that he crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in the same small boat as ten others who landed on that beach on New Year's Eve and were arrested hours later. However, the appearance of five more bodies on Marisucia beach, near Trafalgar, in the days between the 2nd and 6th of January could indicate that another boat had also made the crossing and that its occupants had been forced out by the crew before it reached the shore. The body of the seventh victim, a woman, was discovered among rocks at the Playa del Estrecho in Los Caños de Meca on Wednesday. None appeared to be more than 25 years old, and it is not known whether their families in North Africa have reported their disappearance.