A ship left northern Mauritania heading to the Canary Islands almost three weeks ago with 58 people on board, 48 of whom ended up dying.
The ten men rescued on Saturday by a merchant ship about 370 kilometers south of El Hierro, Canary Islands, were the only survivors of the sinking of a fragile ship carrying migrants, which killed 48.
According to authorities cited this Sunday by the Spanish news agency EFE, the boat left northern Mauritania bound for the Canary Islands almost three weeks ago with 58 people on board, of whom 48 ended up dying.
This is the latest tragedy on the so-called Canary Islands Route, but not the only one of the weekend, since in waters near Lanzarote an inflatable boat capsized and the body of one of its occupants was recovered.
In addition, one of the immigrants who arrived in El Hierro on Saturday in a canoe with 180 occupants died at the Insular Hospital.
The canoe that was sailing south of El Hierro was located by the merchant ship “Patria”, which notified the Maritime Rescue service and reported that there were nine people on board, although one had jumped into the sea and was picked up by the crew of the ship.
Maritime Rescue instructed the “Patria” to remain close to the canoe until the arrival of the operational rescue vessel “Guardamar Talía”, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday.
At that time, the crew of the “Patria” had already transferred all the occupants of the canoe, who were ten in total, to the merchant vessel, according to EFE.
The survivors, all adult men, from Senegal, Mali and Mauritania, reported that they left Nouadhibou (Mauritania) on October 14, so they were at sea for 19 days, the last three without an engine.
On the way, the bodies of the deceased companions were thrown into the sea, 48 according to survivors’ accounts, sources from the emergency services told Efe.
The “Guardamar Talía” arrived shortly before noon today at the port of El Hierro de La Restinga, where the survivors were treated for dehydration, altered consciousness, fever and breathing difficulties by the Red Cross and the Canary Islands Emergency Service. Four of them were admitted to the Insular Hospital of El Hierro.
The other tragedy that occurred on the Canary Islands route occurred in waters near the island of Lanzarote, where the ship “Regina” rescued 54 people from an inflatable boat that was deflating, some of them already in the water.
The ship ‘Guardamar Concepción Arenal’ encountered the ‘Regina’ and its crew managed to rescue two more people alive from the water and collected the body of one of the castaways.
Maritime rescue actions this weekend on the Canary Islands route exceeded a total of 20 and 1,563 migrants were rescued, from 10 boats in precarious conditions, according to provisional counts, which point to a minimum of 86 women and 31 minors.
In El Hierro, between Friday and today, 547 people were rescued in seven boats, and in the waters of Lanzarote 956 in 19 boats, although in Fuerteventura 157 people who were sailing in three boats disembarked.
In Tenerife, about 60 people sail towards the port of Los Cristianos escorted by a maritime rescue ship.
On Friday, 66 migrants arrived on the Canary Islands coast, on Saturday 775 and today another 722 have been rescued, according to data provided to EFE.
Source: Observadora
