45 deaths reported on migrants’ ship

Dozens of migrants trying to reach Europe spent three weeks at sea off West Africa and threw nearly 50 bodies overboard after their vessel lost power and supplies dwindled, officials said.

The boat, which set out from Senegal with as many as 150 people, was found by a Mauritanian patrol boat, a Spanish Civil Guard official said.

When the vessel was found, 100 people and two bodies were aboard, the official said.

Yahfdhou Ould Amar, a police chief in Mauritania, said 45 people died, presumably of hunger, cold and thirst.

Most of the group were Senegalese, officials said.