Simon Hunter
SPAIN’S Maritime Rescue service last night pulled around 187 migrants out of the waters off the coasts of Canary Islands of Tenerife and El Hierro, according to the 112 emergency service.
A total of 159 people were taken to the port of Los Cristianos in Tenerife, thanks to assistance by the emergency services and the Red Cross. Four of the migrants were taken for hospital treatment, according to news agency Europa Press.
Meanwhile, a further 28 people were rescued in the early hours of Wednesday morning after their rickety boat was located by the Royal Navy Vessel HMS Scott when it was some 61 kilometres southeast of El Hierro.
The 28 migrants – all of them sub-Saharan – were taken to the port of La Restinga in El Hierro at around 3.30am on Wednesday morning. All were in good health.
The rescues are the latest in a series of incidents involving would-be migrants trying to reach Spain. On Sunday, a vessel carrying 65 men was intercepted on its way to the south of Tenerife. There was a dead body on board, while another occupant was taken to a local hospital in a serious condition.
In late June, at least two migrants died after their boat overturned some 160 kilometres off the coast of Gran Canaria and they had to wait 10 hours for a rescue.
Read more:
- Amnesty International puts death toll from June 2022 border fence storming at 37 with 76 migrants still unaccounted for
- ‘Spain has become a Greece’: 39 feared to have drowned trying to reach the Canary Islands
- Migrants drown off Almeria coast in Spain after being forced to swim to shore by boat captains
