29 Sep, 2024 @ 11:58
1 min read

At least nine killed and 48 missing after migrant boat capsizes off the coast of Spain’s Canary Islands

Lifeboat in port in Gran Canaria after migrant rescue Cordon press
A file photo of a lifeboat in port in Gran Canaria after a migrant rescue. Credit: Cordon press

AT least nine would-be migrants were left dead in the early hours of Saturday morning after their boat capsized during an attempted rescue off the coast of the Canary Islands. 

Some 48 more migrants were missing after the incident, which could prove to be the deadliest seen in the 30 years that such crossings have been a regular occurrence. 

Rescue services did, however, manage to save 27 of the total 84 migrants who were on the boat.

The tragedy happened off the coast of the Canary Island of El HIerro, and the migrants on the craft were from the African countries of Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, according to the Spanish authorities. 

Read more: Dinghy carrying dozens of migrants lands on tourist packed beach on Spain’s Costa del Sol

Lifeboat in port in Gran Canaria after migrant rescue Cordon press
A file photo of a lifeboat in port in Gran Canaria after a migrant rescue. Credit: Cordon Press

News agency Reuters reported that the alarm was raised shortly after midnight local time on Saturday morning, when a call was made from the vessel, which at that moment was some four miles east of the coast of El Hierro. 

“All the migrants on board moved to the same side of the boat during the rescue, which made it capsize. Everyone fell into the sea,” said Manuel Barroso, head of Spain’s maritime rescue services, in comments reported by Reuters.

That same night, a further three boats managed to reach the Canary Islands’ coast, with a total of 208 migrants on board. 

Earlier this month, local authorities in the Canary Islands said that there had been an increase in the arrival of migrants on Spanish shores thanks to calm seas and low winds. 

Data from the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, showed that there was a 154% surge in migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands from African countries in the first seven months of this year. 

Simon Hunter

Simon Hunter has been living in Madrid since the year 2000 and has worked as a journalist and translator practically since he arrived. For 16 years he was at the English Edition of Spanish daily EL PAÍS, editing the site from 2014 to 2022, and is currently one of the Spain reporters at The Times. He is also a voice actor, and can be heard telling passengers to "mind the gap" on Spain's AVLO high-speed trains.

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