DAKAR, Sept 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Five Mauritanians are missing after two fishing boats collided off the coast of the west African country, the Mauritanian coastguard and Spanish maritime rescue service told AFP on Saturday.

Twenty-one people, including three Spaniards, were saved from the Atlantic waves after Friday's crash between the Gambia-flagged "Grey Whale" and the Mauritanian "Tafra 3" ship, a Mauritanian coastguard source told AFP.

The Spanish rescuers had earlier given the name of the first boat as the "Right Whale" to AFP.

After the "Tafra 3" sank following the collision, five of its 26-strong crew went missing, the source and a spokesman for the Spanish maritime rescue service said.

"There are five disappeared people of Mauritanian nationality; three Spanish citizens have been saved," the spokesman added.

One of the missing Mauritanians was an officer, the Mauritanian coastguard source said.

A Mauritanian coastguard patrol boat was dispatched to the scene to coordinate search and rescue operations, helped by several fishing boats and a Spanish helicopter, the same source added.

An investigation into how the crash happened has been opened, according to the Mauritanian authorities.

According to the Galicia region's government, two of the three Spaniards were captains on board the ship, while the third was an engineer.

In a statement, the Galician authorities expressed their "hopes" that the five people lost overboard would be found.