Mauritania ? African migrants desperate to escape the world’s poorest continent are streaming through Mauritania to embark on a perilous ocean voyage to Europe that already has killed hundreds.

The exodus from the desert country on the coast of northwest Africa prompted a call for help Thursday from Mauritania’s prime minister, and European leaders concerned about absorbing the immigrants already on their shores were eager to cooperate.

The incidents prompted the Spanish government to send a delegation Thursday to Mauritania for talks on measures to try to slow the rising number of hazardous crossings.

More than 1,000 Africans – some driven by hopes of jobs, others hoping to escape their continent’s many wars – have died during the past four months while trying to sail in small wooden boats from Mauritania to the Canary Islands.