Simon Hunter
AT least nine would-be migrants were left dead in the early hours of Saturday morning after their boat capsized during an attempted rescue off the coast of the Canary Islands.
Some 48 more migrants were missing after the incident, which could prove to be the deadliest seen in the 30 years that such crossings have been a regular occurrence.
Rescue services did, however, manage to save 27 of the total 84 migrants who were on the boat.
The tragedy happened off the coast of the Canary Island of El HIerro, and the migrants on the craft were from the African countries of Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, according to the Spanish authorities.
Read more: Dinghy carrying dozens of migrants lands on tourist packed beach on Spain’s Costa del Sol
News agency Reuters reported that the alarm was raised shortly after midnight local time on Saturday morning, when a call was made from the vessel, which at that moment was some four miles east of the coast of El Hierro.
“All the migrants on board moved to the same side of the boat during the rescue, which made it capsize. Everyone fell into the sea,” said Manuel Barroso, head of Spain’s maritime rescue services, in comments reported by Reuters.
That same night, a further three boats managed to reach the Canary Islands’ coast, with a total of 208 migrants on board.
Earlier this month, local authorities in the Canary Islands said that there had been an increase in the arrival of migrants on Spanish shores thanks to calm seas and low winds.
Data from the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, showed that there was a 154% surge in migrant arrivals in the Canary Islands from African countries in the first seven months of this year.
