Dozens missing, 5 dead after migrant boat is found drifting near Spain’s Canary Islands

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — At least five people died and dozens more were feared dead after a boat carrying West African migrants ran into trouble in the Atlantic Ocean. Forty-four people were brought to safety in the Canary Islands.

Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said Thursday that one of its planes had spotted a “precarious” boat drifting some 120 km (74 miles) south of the island of Gran Canaria on Wednesday afternoon.

Three survivors were immediately evacuated by helicopter to a hospital on the island. The remaining 41 migrants were brought to safety by boat and disembarked early Thursday in the port of Arguineguín, where they were cared for by the Red Cross. All survivors were men, some underage, and came from Mali or Senegal, said José Antonio Rodríguez Verona, a spokesperson for the Red Cross in the Canaries.

In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Rodríguez Verona said survivors were disoriented and dehydrated, with many collapsing or vomiting upon reaching land. While it was difficult to get precise information given their fragile state of health, migrants reported leaving Gambia and being stranded at sea for “many, many days.” Some estimated they had been at sea for nearly a month. Running out of provisions, they fell ill from drinking seawater.

Survivors also told the Red Cross that more than 100 people were originally on board, including women and a baby. As people died on the journey, their bodies were tossed in the ocean until they had no more strength to do so.

In an emailed statement, Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service said that it was not able to retrieve the remains of the five dead found inside the boat due to strong winds and waves that were 2.5 metres (8 feet) high.

Separately, Helena Maleno, founder of the migrant rights group Walking Borders, which monitors deaths and disappearances on migration routes to Spain, reported that 83 people had died on the voyage, including three women and a baby. In a post on X, Maleno said the boat had departed Gambia 27 days ago.

Maleno and her NGO are frequently contacted by relatives of missing migrants and often relay calls for help and rescue to Spanish authorities. The AP reached out to Maleno and Walking Borders seeking further details but has not yet received a response.

The West African Atlantic route to Spain’s Canary Islands is one of the deadliest crossings to Europe. While arrivals to the Spanish archipelago have fallen significantly in the past year, tens of thousands of people have died or gone missing in recent years, with several migrant boats getting lost and drifting all the way across the Atlantic to the Americas.