At least 47 migrants trying to reach European waters died of cold and thirst after their boat ran aground on the coast of Mauritania in west Africa.
Police in Mauritania say they found the bodies of 42 people in the sea off the northern port of Nouadhibou.
Coast guards were able to rescue nearly 100 would-be migrants alive from the two boats they were travelling in, but five later died in hospital.
The survivors are said to be exhausted and sick after spending more than two weeks at sea without enough food or water.
The authorities believe the boats carrying Senegalese, Gambians and Malians set off from Senegal and were trying to reach the Spanish island of Fuerteventura. © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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