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Boat Rescue Off Canary Islands Reveals Migrant Tragedy
Confirmed
In Short: More than 80 migrants are feared dead after a boat carrying 128 people was found adrift off the Canary Islands, with five bodies recovered and 44 survivors rescued.
The bodies of five people have been recovered after a boat carrying West Africans was rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands, maritime rescue authorities have said, as an NGO warns that dozens more may have perished. The boat is believed to have set sail from The Gambia for the Canaries 27 days ago, according to reports from EFE and the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras.
Spain’s maritime rescue service Salvamento Maritimo said on Thursday that one of its boats rescued 44 men from a boat drifting some 120km (75 miles) south of the island of Gran Canaria on Wednesday evening. A Salvamento Maritimo spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the other alleged victims 'have not been found or rescued' and that the alternative death toll could not be confirmed.
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo said the tragedy underscored the need for a state policy on migration. In June, Caminando Fronteras reported that more than 1,300 migrants had died while trying to reach Spain in the first five months of 2026.
More than 83 migrants and refugees had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left The Gambia 27 days ago, according to Helena Maleno, a spokesperson for the Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras. The boat carrying 128 people was found adrift off the Canary Islands after almost a month lost at sea.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- The bodies of five people have been recovered after a boat carrying West Africans was rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands, maritime rescue authorities have said, as an NGO warns that dozens more may have perished.
- Spain’s maritime rescue service Salvamento Maritimo said on Thursday that one of its boats rescued 44 men from a boat drifting some 120km (75 miles) south of the island of Gran Canaria on Wednesday evening.
- But Helena Maleno, a spokesperson for the Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras, said on social media that 83 migrants and refugees had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left The…
- A Salvamento Maritimo spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the other alleged victims “have not been found or rescued” and that the alternative death toll could not be confirmed.
- Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo said the tragedy underscored the need for a state policy on migration.
- A total of 5,163 migrants and refugees reached the Canaries by sea from January 1 to August 31, a 57 percent drop on the same period last year, according to interior ministry figures.
- Spanish Maritime Rescue teams located the vessel some 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria's coastal town of Arguineguín on Wednesday and found 44 survivors, with five dead bodies also on board.
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