By Borja Suárez
EL HIERRO, Spain (Reuters) – Patrol boats and helicopters searched on Sunday for about 48 migrants missing since their boat sank near the Spanish island of El Hierro in what threatens to be the deadliest such incident in 30 years. of crossings from Africa to the Canary Islands. Islands.
Nine people, including a child, have been confirmed dead after their boat sank in the early hours of Saturday morning, emergency and rescue services said.
On Saturday, rescuers were able to pick up 27 of the 84 migrants who were trying to reach the Spanish coast. Three patrol boats and three helicopters took part in the new search on Sunday, a Spanish coast guard spokesman told Reuters.
The migrants were from Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, Spanish authorities said.
The number of migrants crossing from West Africa to the Canary Islands increased by 154% from January to July, reaching a total of 21,620 in the first seven months, according to data from the European Union border agency, Frontex, while Figures decreased on the central and western Mediterranean routes. during the same time.
Crossings from Türkiye to Greece increased by 57% and across the English Channel to Britain by 22%.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, Spanish emergency services received a call from the ship, which was about four miles east of El Hierro. She sank during the rescue attempt, they said. The wind and poor visibility made the rescue extremely difficult.
“After what happened yesterday and if the forecast for the arrival of immigrant boats is fulfilled, then it will be the biggest humanitarian crisis that has occurred in the Canary Islands in 30 years,” Candelaria Delgado, from the Canary Islands government, told the press on Sunday.
Three of those rescued were suffering from hypothermia and dehydration, rescue services said Sunday.
The nine deceased immigrants will be buried on Monday and Tuesday. Among the dead was a child between 12 and 15 years old, according to the NGO Walking Borders, which helps migrants.
As hopes of finding more survivors dwindled, police set up a morgue in El Hierro, authorities said.
Three other boats arrived overnight in the Canary Islands with 208 immigrants.
Calm seas and light winds associated with the end of summer in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa have sparked a new wave of migrants, local authorities said this month.
In some 30 years of migrant crossings to the islands, the deadliest shipwreck recorded to date occurred in 2009 off the island of Lanzarote, when 25 people died.