At least 9 people are dead and 48 missing after the sinking of a migrant boat near the Canaries on the night of Friday to Saturday September 28, Spanish maritime rescue announced. The shipwreck took place approximately 7 km south of the port of La Estaca, on the island of El Hierro, one of the islands of the Spanish archipelago, according to Spanish maritime rescue services, who noted upon arriving in the area that the boat “had capsized”.
In total, 84 people were on the boat. 27 people were rescued after the call for help received around 12:15 a.m., 9 bodies were found, and 48 people were being sought, according to the emergency services press release.
Thousands of migrants have lost their lives in recent years attempting the perilous Atlantic route to reach Europe from Africa, mainly via the Spanish Canary Islands, aboard crowded and often dilapidated boats. At the beginning of September, the sinking of a migrant boat trying to reach Europe had already left at least 39 dead off the coast of Senegal.
At the end of August, Spain signed agreements with Mauritania and the Gambia to strengthen cooperation against smugglers of illegal migrants to Europe and in favor of regulated migration, during a tour by the Spanish Prime Minister. As of August 15, 22,304 migrants had arrived in the Canaries since the start of the year, compared to 9,864 for the same period in 2023, an increase of 126%. For Spain as a whole, the increase is 66% (from 18,745 to 31,155).
“Road of Death”
In 2023, nearly 40,000 migrants entered the Canaries, a record which should be beaten again this year, because the improvement in navigation conditions from September generally results each year in a sharp increase in crossings at the end of the year. 'year. The president of the Canary Islands region expects the number of arrivals to exceed the threshold of 50,000 this year.
This maritime route between Africa and the Canaries is, however, a real “road of death”because the crossings are made aboard crowded boats poorly equipped to resist the currents, which are very strong in this area of the Atlantic and which cause numerous shipwrecks. Some boats depart from places a thousand kilometers from the Canary Islands.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, at least 4,857 people have died or disappeared on this maritime route since 2014.
But the real figure is undoubtedly much higher. Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish NGO which helps migrants and assesses the number of victims based on the testimonies of survivors, estimates that 18,680 people paid with their lives for their desire to go to Europe.
Source: Lemonde
