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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - Two wooden canoes carrying West Africans seeking a better life in Europe foundered off the coast of Mauritania over three days, leaving at least 45 would-be immigrants dead, a health official said Monday.
Fishing boats plucked at least 26 people from the Atlantic Ocean following the accidents, but at least 45 people were dead and 17 missing, said Ahmed Ould Haya, head of Mauritania's branch of the International Committee of the Red Crescent.
The boats had sailed separately from Mauritania in an attempt to reach Spain's Canary Islands — about 600 miles away over open ocean.
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