Rescuers search for dozens of missing migrants after boat capsizes off Canary Islands, 9 dead Reuters found
Written by Borja Suarez
EL HIERRO, Spain (Reuters) – Boats and helicopters are searching for up to 48 migrants missing since their boat sank near the Spanish island of El Hierro in what is feared to be the deadliest such incident in 30 years as they cross from Africa to the Canaries . Islands.
Nine people, including a child, have been confirmed dead after their boat capsized in the early hours of Saturday, emergency and rescue services said.
Rescuers managed to pick up 27 of the 84 migrants who were trying to reach the Spanish coast on Saturday. Three patrol boats and three helicopters were involved in the new search on Sunday, a Spanish coastguard spokesman told Reuters.
The migrants were coming from Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, Spanish authorities said.
Emergency services received a call on Saturday shortly after midnight from the boat, which was located four kilometers east of El Hierro. They said it had sunk when they rescued it.
The wind and poor visibility made the rescue very difficult.
“After what happened yesterday and if the forecast of the arrival of migrant boats comes true, it will be the biggest humanitarian crisis that could happen in the Canary Islands in 30 years,” Candelaria Delgado of the government of the Canary Islands, told reporters on Sunday.
Three of the rescued people suffered from hypothermia and dehydration, rescue workers said on Sunday.
The nine dead immigrants will be buried on Monday and Tuesday.
As hopes of finding more survivors dwindled, police set up a morgue in El Hierro, authorities said.
Among the dead is a child between the ages of 12-15, according to the NGO Walking Borders, which helps immigrants.
Three other boats arrived in the Canary Islands during the night, carrying 208 migrants.
Calm seas and strong winds associated with late summer in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa have led to an increase in migration, local authorities said this month.
The route from Africa to the islands has seen a 154% increase in immigration this year, with 21,620 migrants landing in the first seven months, data from the European Union agency Frontex showed.
In about 30 years of migrant crossings to the islands the worst shipwreck recorded so far happened in 2009 on the island of Lanzarote when 25 people died.
