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More than 80 dead including a baby in migrant boat tragedy off Spain
Only 44 of the 128 people on board survived the 27 day crossing from Gambia to the Canary Islands
More than 80 people, including a baby, have died after a boat carrying 128 migrants from Gambia was found adrift close to the Canary Islands, having set sail 27 days earlier.
Rescue operations wrapped up in the early hours of Thursday morning, September 3, at around 4.40am, when Maritime Rescue brought 41 survivors ashore at the port of Arguineguín. Three others had already been airlifted off the boat earlier due to their critical condition and were taken to the Doctor Negrín University Hospital in Gran Canaria.
In total just 44 of the 128 people who set out for Spain survived the almost month-long crossing.
The boat was first spotted at around 6.40pm on Wednesday September 2, when the Maritime Rescue aircraft Sasemar 101 located it adrift 120 kilometres southwest of Arguineguín, off Gran Canaria. The Coordination Centre scrambled Maritime Rescue teams, who pulled all 44 survivors from the water, all men of sub-Saharan origin.
Rescuers also found five bodies on board but were unable to recover them because of the dangerous conditions at sea. Waves were reaching over two and a half metres with winds of around 40 kilometres an hour, forcing emergency teams to leave the bodies where they were.
The Guardia Civil confirmed to the NGO Caminando Fronteras that markings on the boat's hull matched those of a vessel that left Gambia on August 7, almost a month before it was found, carrying 128 people including four women and a baby.
Survivors gave a similar account to the Red Cross while receiving assistance at the dock, telling workers they'd set off for the Canary Islands "with more than one hundred people", many of whom didn't survive the journey.
Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands, said he was devastated by the deaths.
"It is unbearable that lives continue to be lost," he said in a message posted on social media.
"The Canary Islands cannot become accustomed to or normalise the fact that the Atlantic remains a route of death."
Mr Clavijo added that the situation unfolding in the Canary Islands and Ceuta in recent days "once again highlights the reality that Spain needs a national migration policy, and Europe must assume its responsibility."
He went on to say, "we cannot continue managing migration crisis by crisis, we are talking about lives and dignity."
Image: Salvamento Marítimo/Archive
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