The Spanish authorities rescued 317 people from precarious boats and from the sea last night alone on the coast of the island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands, the Spanish Maritime Rescue services revealed this Friday.
Among those rescued are a child and a pregnant woman.They were pulled from the sea by a helicopter after the boat they were in capsized, throwing the eight occupants into the water.
The child taken from the sea is in critical condition by the Spanish authorities.
Sources from the Maritime Rescue, Emergency 112 and Red Cross services told the EFE agency that the boy is a six-year-old boy who was resuscitated after going into cardiac arrest and that he also had burns, in addition to being dehydrated.
In addition to these 317 people, another 15 migrants arrived on the island of Lanzarote overnight, after having landed, by their own means, on a beach, according to the Spanish authorities.
Lanzarote, with some 155,000 inhabitants, is the island of the Atlantic Canary archipelago that is closest to the West African coast.
Every year thousands of Africans try to enter Europe illegally through the Spanish coast, but most try to do so through the south of mainland Spain, crossing the Mediterranean in dilapidated boats.
Source: Observadora