More than 80 migrants are feared dead after a boat carrying about 127 people from The Gambia was rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands on Wednesday, with 44 survivors and five bodies found on board.
The boat was located about 65 nautical miles southwest of Arguineguín, Gran Canaria, after drifting across the Atlantic for 27 days, according to the BBC.
The vessel is believed to have left The Gambia in early August.
Spanish Maritime Rescue said the survivors were all men from sub-Saharan Africa. Three of them were airlifted to hospital in critical condition, while the remaining 41 were taken by sea to Gran Canaria, arriving early Thursday.
Human rights activist, Helena Maleno Garzón, founder of Spanish charity Caminando Fronteras, said 83 people had died during the journey.
Maritime Rescue, however, said it could not independently confirm the number of people who had originally been aboard the boat.
Rescuers found five dead bodies inside the vessel but were unable to recover them because of dangerous sea conditions. Maritime Rescue said winds of about 20 knots and waves reaching 2.5 metres made it impossible for its teams to retrieve the bodies.
The head of the Canary Islands government, Fernando Clavijo, criticised the continuing loss of life along the migration route.
“It is intolerable that lives continue to be lost,” he said in a post on X, adding that the Atlantic route could not be allowed to become a normalised “death trap.”
The Atlantic crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the most dangerous migration routes to Spain.
Migrants and asylum seekers from West African countries regularly attempt the journey in overcrowded and poorly equipped boats, facing long distances, strong currents and unpredictable weather.
