A boat that left Gambia in early August with 127 people on board was located Wednesday 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria. Forty-four survivors were rescued, but 83 people are reported dead according to a human rights activist.
Spanish maritime rescue teams found the ship drifting for 27 days in the Atlantic Ocean, with 44 survivors and five bodies on board. The human toll could exceed 80 dead, including an infant.
Helena Maleno Garzón, human rights activist and founder of the Spanish association Caminando Fronteras, stated the figure of 83 victims. The Spanish maritime rescue service was unable to confirm the exact number of people initially on board.
Weather conditions forced rescuers to leave the five bodies on site. Winds of 20 knots and waves of 2.5 meters made any recovery impossible, the rescue service said in a statement. Three of the survivors, all men from sub-Saharan Africa, were airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. The other 41 reached Gran Canaria by sea, disembarking during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands government, reacted on X: “It is intolerable that lives continue to be lost. The Canaries cannot get used to or accept as normal the reality that the Atlantic remains a deadly trap.”
The Atlantic route connecting West Africa to the Canary Islands is among the deadliest migration crossings in the world. Every year, thousands venture there despite violent currents, great distances, and rough seas.
