At least 55 migrants lost their lives over the weekend while attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands from Africa by boat, according to Spanish news agency EFE.
The Spanish coast guard rescued 1,786 people making this perilous journey, known as one of the most dangerous migration routes worldwide.
The deadliest incident involved a wooden boat that had set off from northern Mauritania nearly three weeks earlier. The vessel was found drifting about 370 kilometers (229 miles) south of El Hierro on Saturday, with only 10 survivors onboard. These survivors reported that the boat had originally carried 58 passengers, with the others dying and being thrown overboard.
Another tragedy struck Sunday afternoon when a dinghy sank 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Lanzarote’s coast. The coast guard recovered five bodies and saved 17 passengers using a rescue raft deployed from a plane. The same mission rescued an additional 80 migrants from a nearby struggling dinghy.
In a separate operation, officials retrieved the body of a woman who had fallen from a deflating dinghy while rescuing the remaining 54 passengers.
One migrant who arrived at El Hierro also passed away in a hospital from injuries sustained on the journey.
In total, of those rescued, 815 migrants were brought to Lanzarote, 754 to El Hierro, 157 to Fuerteventura, and 60 to Tenerife, as reported by EFE.
The Canary Island government has repeatedly requested assistance to manage the increasing number of migrants, with many of its youth centers overwhelmed. From January 1 to October 15, over 45,000 migrants entered Spain through irregular routes, with nearly 33,000 arriving by sea in the Canary Islands. The NGO Walking Borders estimates that 5,054 people have died along the route in the first five months of this year alone.
