More than 50 dead in latest crossing attempt to Canary Islands

Only four people could be rescued, and are now hospitalized on the island of Fuerteventura.

On Twitter, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz expressed her condolences over the deaths, stressing that the European Union needed to find a way to implement a comprehensive policy on migration with “human rights at the center.” 

Politicians in Brussels are presently at loggerheads over the issue of introducing a mechanism of redistribution of migrants and refugees arriving in the southern member states of the EU such as Spain, Greece and Italy.

Eight long days at sea

Helena Maleno, a representative of Caminando Fronteras, and NGO that advocates in the name of migrants, said that according to the information she had, the boat had embarked on the journey from Tan-Tan city in southern Morocco.

She added that 11 of the 51 victims were women and that three were children.

The vessel had reportedly spent eight days at sea trying to cross the Atlantic to the Canary Islands.

Read more: Deaths on Canaries route highlight lack of coordinated rescue ops

Further tragedies

In an unrelated development, the Spanish Red Cross reported that one migrant was found dead as another boat with 65 people on board was intercepted by Spain’s Maritime Rescue to the south of Tenerife.

The remaining passengers, all of whom were reported to be male, meanwhile were taken to the port of Los Cristianos in Arona in the southern tip of the island, according to local news outlet Canarias7.

Emergency services said that medics had to perform first aid on an unspecified number of migrants after the boat docked. One of them had to be taken to hospital and was reported to be in a serious condition. 

Read more: Canary Islands: Looking for new ways of living together

Crossing attempts to Canaries on the rise

The number of migrants trying to reach the Canary Islands has been rising in recent weeks after a lull earlier in the year.

The journey across the open sea is incredibly dangerous, with shipwrecks being recorded on average several times a month.

Most recently, another boat tragedy occurred on June 22, when 39 migrants died about 130 kilometers off the Canary Islands.

According to Caminando Fronteras, more than 7,600 people have died trying to reach the Canary Islands in the last five years.

Read more: Canary Islands: How the Spanish Red Cross works to identify shipwreck victims

With EFE, Anadolu, Canarias 7