One dead, 7 missing from migrant boat rescued by Spain

Madrid, Feb 8 (IANS) One person is confirmed to have died while seven were still missing on Wednesday after Spain’s Maritime Rescue Services rescued 43 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries from an inflatable dinghy off the coast of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

The dinghy, carrying 30 men, 10 women and two minors, was located by the rescue vessel Al Nair 37 km east of Lanzarote, Xinhua news agency reported.

A lifeless body was also recovered from the dinghy and the Red Cross reported that seven people who fell into the sea from the vessel are missing.

This year alone, the Spanish Maritime Rescue has saved 10 boats carrying almost 500 migrants who attempted to make the hazardous crossing from the north-west coast of Africa to Lanzarote.

On Wednesday morning, another Maritime Rescue vessel rescued another dinghy carrying 64 people off the south coast of the island of Gran Canaria.

The “Canary Islands route” is considered to be the most dangerous of all migratory routes to Europe. The United Nations International Organization for Migration has documented 1,532 deaths of would-be migrants on this route between 2019 and 2020, although the actual death toll is believed to be much higher.

–IANS

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