Nine people drowned and at least 48 are missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized overnight off Spain's Canary Islands, rescue services said Saturday. This is the latest in a series of such disasters off the west coast of Africa.
A maritime rescue team said in a statement that it responded to a distress call just after midnight on El Hierro, an island in the Atlantic archipelago. We were able to rescue 27 of the 84 passengers and crew.
Canary Islands governor Anselmo Pestana said survivors told rescue workers the boat had left from Nouadhibou in Mauritania, nearly 500 miles (800 kilometers) away.
They also suggested that there may have been as many as 90 people on board. Four of those rescued were minors, he added.
Mr. Pestana was speaking from the port of La Estaca on El Hierro.
The most important part of the operation was when the rescue ship approached the ship in distress, he told reporters. This was because it was important for the people on board the ship in distress to remain calm.
He added that they had to follow the instructions of rescue workers to keep the ship balanced and avoid capsizing.
He said the migrants had been without food or water for two days, which may have contributed to the panic and capsizing of the boat.
He added that five ships, three helicopters and one plane took part in the search and rescue operation.
The disaster comes after 39 migrants died in early September when their boat sank off the coast of Senegal while attempting a similar crossing to the Canary Islands, where migrants hoped to reach mainland Europe. This follows.
Thousands of migrants have lost their lives in recent years as they set off across the Atlantic for Europe on board overcrowded and dilapidated ships.
The tragedy “underscores once again the dangers of the Atlantic sea route,” said Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands region.
He added that with lives being lost “meters from Europe's southern borders”, “Spain and the EU need to take decisive action in the face of a structural humanitarian tragedy”.
In late August, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez visited Mauritania and Gambia and signed cooperation agreements to crack down on smugglers while expanding legal immigration options.
As of August 15, 22,304 migrants had arrived in the Canary Islands since the beginning of the year, up from 9,864 in the same period last year.
Nearly 40,000 migrants entered the Canary Islands in 2023, but that record will be broken this year as navigation becomes easier from September and attempts to cross are likely to increase sharply.
The Atlantic route is particularly dangerous, with many crowded and poorly equipped boats unable to cope with the strong currents. Some boats depart from African beaches as far as 1,000 km (620 miles) from the Canary Islands.
The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, estimates that 4,857 people have died on this route since 2014.
Many aid organizations say this figure is a gross underestimate. According to Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish NGO that supports migrants, 18,680 people have died trying to reach Europe.
