MADRID: Officials say at least 227 migrants were rescued off the coast of Spain’s Canary Islands on Thursday, a day after more than 30 migrants were reported dead there.
According to emergency services, the coast guards rescued the migrants who were traveling on inflatable boats in the Atlantic between the islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. Several of them were brought to the hospital for treatment of a “mild condition.” Two NGOs warned on Wednesday that more than 30 migrants may have drowned after their dinghy crashed off the coast of Gran Canaria. According to Spanish officials, rescue workers discovered the deaths of a minor and a man and saved 24 more people.
However, the charities, Walking Borders and Alarm Phone reported that roughly 60 people had been on board. Walking Borders’ Helena Maleno Garzon reported that 39 people had drowned, including four women and a baby, while Alarm Phone reported that 35 people were missing. Both organizations monitor migrant boats and get calls from people on board or relatives of those on board.
According to the Spanish news agency Efe, a Spanish rescue ship, the Guardamar Caliope, was just about an hour’s sail from the dinghy on Tuesday evening. According to Reuters, the ship failed to help the dinghy because it had been taken over by Moroccan officials, who deployed a patrol boat that arrived on Wednesday morning, 10 hours after it was spotted by a Spanish rescue plane.
The Canary Islands are part of Spain, despite being off Africa’s western coast, and many migrants travel from Africa to the archipelago with the aim of reaching mainland Europe. According to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Western Africa-Atlantic migration route is one of the world’s deadliest, with at least 543 migrants dying or going missing in 2022.
