Rescue crews on Monday renewed the search for at least 48 migrants missing since their boat capsized off the Canary Islands over the weekend, a tragedy feared to be the deadliest migrant crossing to the Atlantic archipelago in 30 years.
The boat overturned overnight Friday to Saturday off El Hierro, the westernmost island, when rescuers arrived to assist the migrants after they had called for help.
Migrants rushed to one side of the boat, causing it to tip.
27 people were rescued and nine bodies recovered after the boat, which had set out from Nouadhibou in Mauritania, some 800 kilometres away, overturned, making it the deadliest incident in 30 years of crossings from Africa to the Canary Islands.
Spanish government sources said the boat may have been carrying up to 90 people, instead of 84 as originally announced, which could put the number of missing at more than 50.
Three boats and two helicopters were deployed on Monday off El Hierro to look for the missing people, Spain’s maritime rescue service said on X (Twitter).
‘This is a terrible tragedy, and above all one whose true scale we still don’t know,’ the head of the El Hierro government, Alpidio Armas, told local television station RTVC, adding the island had declared three days of mourning.
The nine dead are to be buried in Valverde and La Frontera, municipalities on El Hierro, which is home to just 11,000 people.
Another boat carrying 77 migrants arrived at El Hierro on Monday, escorted by a Spanish maritime rescue ship which had spotted it south of the island.
Thousands of migrants have died in recent years setting off into the Atlantic to reach Europe on overcrowded and often dilapidated boats.
As of 15 August, 22,304 migrants have reached the Canaries since the start of the year, up from 9,864 in the same period the previous year.
Continúa la búsqueda de las 48 personas desaparecidas en El Hierro. Coordinado por CCS Tenerife
— SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO (@salvamentogob) September 30, 2024
Medios movilizados para hoy:
▶️SALVAMENTO MARÍTIMO
Guardamar Calíope
▶️CRUZ ROJA
Embarcación LS Hades
▶️GOBIERNO CANARIAS
Helicóptero Helo GES MI71
▶️GUARDIA CIVIL
Helicóptero CUCO… pic.twitter.com/xqlxAh7X1r
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