Several casualties and numerous individuals unaccounted for following a boat accident involving migrants near the Spanish shoreline.
A wooden vessel off the coast of El Hierro's Canary Island apparently resulted in the demise of numerous migrants. As many as 48 individuals are still unaccounted for, as per the Spanish marine rescue service's reports. Fourteen bodies have been retrieved since the incident, which happened around 1 a.m. on Saturday, with only 27 migrants among at least 84 passengers being saved, including four minors.
Search operations resumed at sunrise, engaging three ships and three helicopters, as reported by the rescue service. However, the prospect of discovering any more survivors appears bleak. On Saturday, crew members from the rescue teams confessed that the chances were slim.
The wooden boat, carrying at least 84 migrants from Africa, flipped over around 1 a.m. on Saturday, around four nautical miles (more than seven kilometers) south of La Restinga on the westernmost Canary Island of El Hierro. The incident occurred when a mass migration towards one side of the boat took place, just as a rescue vessel approached. If no more survivors are found, the fatality count could exceed 60.
The survivors reported feeling drained, dehydrated, and chilled. The passengers aboard the capsized vessel had been without water and food for two days, according to Anselmo Pestana, the Spanish government representative on the Canary Islands. They were forced to drink seawater due to their dire circumstances. The chaotic situation aboard the overcrowded boat might have caused panic among the passengers upon sighting the rescue ship during the night. Survivors claimed that the boat had set sail a week ago from Nouadhibou, a western Mauritania coast city, approximately 750 kilometers away from El Hierro.
As per the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), around 30,000 migrants have reached the Canaries from Africa in 2023, far surpassing the number of migrants who reached the same point in 2022. Boats depart from the West African coast, spanning from Guinea in the south to Morocco in the north. Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras estimates that around 4,800 people have perished during the journey, either due to drowning or exhaustion, between January and May's end.
The refugee boat accident Referenced in the rescue service's reports, resulted in the loss of numerous migrants off the coast of El Hierro's Canary Island. Search and rescue teams continued their efforts, but the chances of finding more survivors seemed slim.
