Seven migrants were found dead on Saturday aboard a sinking boat off the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, and an eighth died on land, Spanish rescue services said on Sunday.
The occupants of the boat, 62 in total, of North African descent, had been adrift for at least a week.
Three were transported by helicopter to receive emergency care, while several others were taken to hospital after arriving overnight from Saturday to Sunday at the port of Arguineguin in Gran Canaria, the services said. relief from the Atlantic archipelago.
The boat was spotted by a French sailboat around 6:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. GMT) some 38 miles south of the island of Gran Canaria, the Maritime Rescue (rescue service at sea) told AFP. sent a boat to the area.
Upon arrival, rescuers found that seven of the occupants of the skiff were dead.
That same night, another boat with 36 migrants, including a woman and a child, all in good physical condition, was located 8 miles south of Gran Canaria and brought back to Arguineguin, according to the archipelago’s emergency service.
This type of drama is recurrent on the Spanish coasts, which immigrants seek to join, despite the dangers, mainly from Morocco or Algeria.
A total of 32,713 immigrants arrived by sea in Spain between January and October, 24.2% more than over the same period in 2020, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior.
According to estimates at the end of September by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 2021 was the deadliest year on the migration route to Spain, with at least 1,025 dead.
The road to the Canary Islands is particularly dangerous. According to IOM, at least 785 people died trying to reach its shores between January and August this year.
