Emergency services have so far rescued 117 people, including a deceased woman
New tragedy on the migratory route to the Canary Islands. A capsize in a boat about 244 kilometers from the south of Gran Canaria has so far left up to 27 people missing, including six babies and 13 women, and one deceased woman.
At the moment, as confirmed to this medium by the person in charge of Immigration of the Red Cross in the Canary Islands, Jose Antonio Rodríguez, the emergency services have rescued 117 people of sub-Saharan origin, among whom there is a deceased woman. Of them, 82 of those rescued are men and 35 women. In addition, they have also been able to save four minors. Even so, the Red Cross has established a device to be able to identify the number of people who may have disappeared.
The place where the accident occurred, south of Gran Canaria, is the most dangerous route in the Atlantic that boats use to reach the island. For this reason, although in the last month, due to adverse weather conditions, the emergency services had noticed a decrease in the number of boats arriving in Spanish territory.
Even so, from the Red Cross, according to Rodríguez, they are preparing more personnel for the possible arrival of more boats. And it is that since the beginning of the week they have noticed an increase in the migratory flow with the improvement of the weather.
three boats
The Guardamar Calíope rescued 80 people of sub-Saharan origin on Monday -including 17 women and four children- in two inflatable boats located more than 70 kilometers from the south of Gran Canaria, according to a spokesman for Salvamento Marítimo.
The Calliope found these two boats after being mobilized to look for a boat that had supposedly left Bojador (Sahara) with some 61 people on board.
While this operation was underway, with the support of the Sasemar 103 plane, the National Rescue Center received a phone call made by the occupants of a small boat with fifty people on board, asking for help and facilitating their position.
On the way to those coordinates, the Guardamar Calliope found another zodiac with 33 people (29 men, two women and two minors). Shortly after, he found the boat that had asked for help by phone, in which 47 people were traveling (30 men, 15 women and two children).
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