At least 9 people are dead and 48 missing after a migrant boat sank near El Hierro, one of the islands of the Spanish Canary archipelago, on the night of Friday to Saturday, Spanish maritime rescue announced. . In all, 84 people were present on this canoe, the same source said. Among them, 27 people were rescued after the call for help received around 12:15 a.m., 9 bodies were found, and 48 people were wanted, according to this press release.
At the beginning of September, the sinking of a migrant boat trying to reach Europe had already left at least 39 dead off the coast of Senegal. Thousands of migrants have lost their lives in recent years attempting the perilous Atlantic route to reach Europe from Africa, mainly via the Spanish Canary Islands, aboard crowded and often dilapidated boats.
“Road of Death”
At the end of August, Spain signed agreements with Mauritania and the Gambia to strengthen cooperation against smugglers of illegal migrants to Europe and in favor of regulated migration, during a tour by the Spanish Prime Minister. As of August 15, 22,304 migrants had arrived in the Canaries since the start of the year, compared to 9,864 for the same period in 2023, an increase of 126%. For Spain as a whole, the increase is 66% (from 18,745 to 31,155).
This maritime route between Africa and the Canaries is a real “road of death”, because the crossings are made aboard crowded boats poorly equipped to withstand the currents, which are very strong in this area of the Atlantic and which cause numerous shipwrecks. Some boats depart from places a thousand kilometers from the Canary Islands.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a UN agency, at least 4,857 people have died or disappeared on this maritime route since 2014. But the real figure is undoubtedly much higher. Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish NGO which helps migrants and assesses the number of victims based on the testimonies of survivors, estimates that 18,680 people paid with their lives for their desire to go to Europe.
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