200+ Migrants Rescued From The Canary Islands

A day after it was reported that more than 30 migrants had died there, authorities say at least 227 migrants were saved off the Canary Islands of Spain on Thursday.

Emergency services report that the migrants were traveling on inflatable boats close to the Atlantic islands of Lanzarote and Gran Canaria.

They were all taken to a hospital to receive treatment for “mild conditions.”

Two charities reported on Wednesday that more than 30 migrants may have drowned when their dinghy capsized off the coast of Gran Canaria. According to Spanish authorities, rescuers saved 24 additional people while also recovering the bodies of a boy and a man.

However, 60 people were on board, according to the charities Walking Borders and Alarm Phone. 

While Alarm Phone reported 35 people missing, Helena Maleno Garzon of Walking Borders said that 39 people had drowned, including four women and a baby.

Both organizations monitor migrant boats and take calls from passengers or their loved ones.

According to the Spanish news agency Efe, a Spanish rescue service ship, the Guardamar Caliope, was only a short sail away from the dinghy on Tuesday evening.

The operation had been taken over by Moroccan officials, who sent a patrol boat that arrived on Wednesday morning, 10 hours after it had been spotted by a Spanish rescue plane. As a result, the ship did not assist the dinghy.

The governor of the Canary Islands, Angel Victor Torres, called the incident a “tragedy” and urged the EU to create a migration policy that “offers coordinated and supportive responses” to the issue of migration.

More info: Canary Island

The Canary Islands are off the western coast of Africa but are part of Spain, and many migrants from Africa travel there in the hope of traveling to 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, and at least 543 migrants died or went missing on that journey in 2022.

During that time, according to IOM, there were 45 shipwrecks along the route; however, the number is “probably underestimated” because of the absence of data and its incompleteness.

According to the report, the majority of those traveling are from Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Morocco, Mali, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, and other nations.

A migrant boat carrying hundreds of people capsized off the Greek coast last week. At least 78 people are known to have perished, though it is likely that many more perished in the water.

Up to 500 people may still be missing, according to the UN human rights office, and the available evidence casts doubt on the Greek coast guard’s version of events. According to the coast guard, the boat was headed for Italy and did not require rescue.