You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Europe
4 dead, dozens missing as migrant boat sinks off Canary Islands
2022-10-03
[DW] The boat set off from the Western Sahara some nine days ago, carrying 34 migrants colonists attempting to flee to the Spanish islands. Thousands of migrants colonists attempt the trip each year, in search of a better life.

Spanish coastguards have recovered a migrant boat off one of Spain's Canary Islands, rescuing a sole survivor and retrieving the bodies of four deceased people.

A Spanish NGO which works with illegal migrants colonists said the boat was carrying 34 migrants colonists. The sole known survivor, a 26-year-old man from the Ivory Coast, was cited as confirming this to the Spanish international news agency EFE.

The Salvamento Maritimo coastguard said on Sunday that a merchant ship recovered the boat 150 miles (roughly 240 kilometers) southwest of the island of Gran Canaria. The migrants colonists were being taken to the island's capital city of Las Palmas, and had been expected to arrive on Monday.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SUNKEN BOAT?
Helena Maleno, the head of Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras, which helps migrant boats in trouble at sea and works with families searching for loved ones, said on Twitter that her organization had received an alert for a boat taking off from near the city of Laayoune on 24 September.

The organization, whose name translates in English as "Walking Borders," reported the alert to the authorities at the time.

"Seven days of pain and waiting in which there was no news. Seven days that ended yesterday with the announcement of a new tragedy in one of the deadliest migration routes, the Canary Islands," Maleno wrote on Twitter.

Maleno calculated the remainder of this sunken boat's victims to stand at 29. She said their families likely would not even be able to recover their bodies, which had most likely been "swallowed by the ocean."

HOW OFTEN DOES THIS HAPPEN?
The migrant route from West Africa to the Canary Islands across the Atlantic is among the deadliest worldwide.

Thousands brave the trip annually from northwest and sub-Saharan Africa, in search of better lives, undeterred by the frailty of the boats which carry them or the death of their predecessors.

The Atlantic Ocean is particularly infamous for its strong currents, which makes such trips more perilous.

Over 11,500 migrants colonists have crossed into the Canary Islands this year, as per Spanish Interior Ministry figures on September 15. The figure is slightly higher than this period last year.

Maleno's NGO says that over 900 migrants colonists trying to reach Spain in the first six months of this year drowned or were lost at sea.
Related:
Western Sahara: 2022-09-14 Kushner ‘disappointed’ Abraham Accords haven’t grown, says 6 countries were on deck
Western Sahara: 2022-07-20 Israeli army chief lands in Morocco for first visit as ties normalise
Western Sahara: 2022-03-08 French army says senior Al-Qaeda leader killed in Mali
Related:
Canary Islands: 2022-10-02 12 Spanish siblings set world record with a combined age of 1,058
Canary Islands: 2022-06-26 Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa flee wave of police raids in Morocco
Canary Islands: 2022-04-30 Over 3,000 Europe-bound migrants lost at sea in 2021: UN
Related:
Caminando Fronteras: 2022-07-27 Morocco intercepts more than 350 migrants off coast
Caminando Fronteras: 2021-08-25 Morocco navy rescues more than 400 Europe-bound migrants
Caminando Fronteras: 2021-07-08 Nearly 2,100 migrants died trying to reach Spain in 2021: NGO
Posted by:trailing wife

#2  Thousands brave the trip annually from northwest and sub-Saharan Africa, in search of better lives

Because post-colonialism has been such a success. /sarc
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-10-03 17:34  

#1  Canaries. Long damn' way to go.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2022-10-03 00:25  

00:00