Spanish services rescue over 100 migrants in Canary Islands

By Rédaction Africanews with EBU

Spanish authorities have released new footage of the rescue of over 100 migrants in the Canary Islands this weekend.

Images show members of the Spanish Red Cross helping people, some of them injured, getting to shore.

On Sunday Morning, the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service recovered a dinghy boat carrying 121 people and 4 dead bodies near the isle of El Hierro. Passengers were men between the ages of 15 and 35.

Spanish authorities received a distress call from the boat, which had stopped around 30 km south of the island after running out of food, water and fuel.

A rescue vessel and a helicopter were dispatched to the area and the survivors were transferred to the port of La Restinga.

Thirteen people were taken to the hospital, one of them with severe hypothermia.

The migrants said they had made an eight-day journey from Jinack Island in the Gambia and stated their had nationalities from Senegal, Mali, the Gambia and Ivory Coast.

Another 2 migrant boats were rescued during the weekend in the Canary Islands, making a total of 524 people saved and 5 dead since Friday.

Over the past decade, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has recorded about 5,000 missing migrant deaths along the Western African-Atlantic route to Spain.

In November, the IOM announced a “landmark initiative” with The Gambia and Mauritania “to strengthen national responses to migrant deaths and disappearances along routes connecting Africa and Europe.”