Spain rescues 86 folks from boat off Canary Islands | Migration Information

International Courant

Two different ships with dozens of people that got here from Senegal stay lacking, support group says.

The Spanish coastguard says it has rescued 86 folks from a ship off the Canary Islands noticed by a rescue airplane earlier within the day.

An plane and ship had been dispatched to initially seek for a fishing vessel from Senegal that had about 200 folks on board and had been lacking for almost two weeks.

The rescue service initially thought the boat noticed by the reconnaissance plane 114 km (71 mi) south of the island of Gran Canaria on Monday could possibly be the lacking ship.

However the spokesman stated the rescue service had discovered 86 folks on board and solely additional investigation would reveal the place it had sailed from. The boat was towed to Gran Canaria.

The rescue service stated it couldn’t affirm that the rescued boat was certainly one of three lacking. It additionally stated it had warned boats crusing within the Atlantic waters between the Canary Islands and West Africa to look out for different migrant boats nonetheless lacking.

Refugee support company Strolling Borders stated on Sunday the fishing vessel and two extra boats — one carrying about 65 folks and the opposite carrying 50 to 60 — had been lacking for about two weeks after leaving Senegal to attempt to attain Spain.

Helena Maleno of Strolling Borders stated Monday that the households of the at the least 300 refugees aboard the three boats haven’t obtained any new details about their whereabouts.

The situation of these on board was unknown.

Maleno’s group had contacted authorities in Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco and Spain, urging them to seek for the lacking boats.

“Extra assets must be spent on the search,” she stated.

All three boats set sail in late June from the village of Kafountine in Senegal’s Cassamance area, dwelling to a decades-long insurgency. It’s about 1,700 km (1,050 mi) from the Spanish Canary Islands. Climate situations within the Atlantic Ocean had been unhealthy for such a visit, Maleno stated.

The Atlantic migration route, sometimes utilized by refugees from sub-Saharan Africa, is among the deadliest on the earth. Almost 800 folks had been killed or lacking within the first half of 2023, in keeping with Strolling Borders.

In line with the Worldwide Group for Migration, at the least 559 folks died in 2022 making an attempt to succeed in the Canary Islands.

In recent times, the Canary Islands have grow to be one of many major locations for folks making an attempt to succeed in Spain, in keeping with the Spanish Ministry of the Inside, with a peak of greater than 23,000 refugees arriving in 2020. Within the first six months of this yr, greater than 7,000 refugees reached the Canary Islands.

One of many deadliest mass drownings of refugees en path to Europe happened within the Mediterranean final month. Greater than 500 persons are believed to have died off the coast of Greece. The European Union’s years of failure to stop such tragedies have been criticized.

Boats sure for the Canary Islands come primarily from Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania and fewer from Senegal, the Spanish support company stated. Nonetheless, at the least 19 boats from Senegal have arrived within the Canary Islands since June, the group stated.

Components comparable to ailing economies, an absence of jobs, political unrest and the results of local weather change are driving folks to danger their lives on overcrowded boats to succeed in the Canary Islands. Final month, at the least 23 folks had been killed in Senegal throughout weeks of protests between opposition supporters and the police.

Knowledge from the EU border company Frontex reveals that 1,135 refugees from Senegal have arrived within the Canary Islands up to now this yr.

Spain rescues 86 folks from boat off Canary Islands | Migration Information

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