A boat carrying migrants that left Gambia last month was found by authorities late Wednesday adrift off Spain’s Canary Islands, with dozens of people feared dead.
Helena Mareno, head of the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), said 83 of the 127 people on the boat died, including four women and an infant. He said the passengers had left the West African country 27 days ago.
Spain’s Maritime Safety and Rescue Association, also known as SASEMAR, told CNN on Wednesday night that it rescued a “makeshift boat” that was adrift 65 nautical miles southwest of the town of Arguineguin on Gran Canaria’s south coast.
SASEMAR told CNN that 44 people were rescued from the boat, three of whom were airlifted to local hospitals in critical condition. SASEMAR said it was unable to recover the bodies of the other five as bad weather hampered its work.
Maritime authorities said all those found on the ship were men from sub-Saharan Africa and they could not confirm how many passengers were on the ship when it left Gambia.
A spokeswoman for the Canary Islands Red Cross, which is caring for the survivors, said the survivors were from Mali or Senegal, and some were minors.
Jose Antonio Rodríguez Verona told The Associated Press that they were disoriented and dehydrated, and many collapsed or vomited when they reached land. A spokesperson said the ship had reported being stranded at sea for “many days” and some estimated it had lasted nearly a month. They ran out of food, drank seawater and fell ill.
Survivors initially said there were more than 100 people on board, including a woman and an infant, Rodriguez-Verona said. The bodies of those who died were thrown into the sea until those who remained lost their strength.
Caminando Fronteras says the Canary Islands route remains the most dangerous leg of the Africa-Europe migration corridor.
In the first five months of this year alone, the charity recorded 1,317 deaths on migration routes to Spain, including 142 women and 129 children.
Almost half of the deaths occurred on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands.
The head of the Canary Islands’ government, Fernando Clavijo, told Program
Clavijo added that the incident highlights the need for better state migration policies.
“We cannot continue to manage migration from crisis to crisis. We are talking about life and dignity,” he said.
The tragedy comes as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is under pressure over his country’s immigration policy after an estimated 72,000 people crossed from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta over two days in July. The large-scale border crossing sparked nationwide protests and sparked diplomatic tensions between Spain and Italy.
CNN’s Pau Mosquera contributed reporting.
