A boat that can carry around 200 migrants was located off the Canary Islands on Monday and would correspond to that which left Senegal almost two weeks ago, Spanish rescuers said.
“The plane” deployed by the Spanish sea rescue service “has located a boat which seems to be the one we are looking for because from the air, (the rescuers) saw that there could be around 200 people on board”, a spokeswoman for Salvamento Maritimo told AFP.
Two other boats also missing
“We can’t confirm it 100% yet but it’s likely to be the same,” she said. According to this spokesperson, a ship left the Canary archipelago to rescue this boat, located 71 nautical miles south of the island of Gran Canaria, and should take several hours to bring them back to the archipelago.
At the request of the Spanish authorities, a merchant ship also set sail for the area where the boat was located. Spanish rescuers had earlier said they were looking for the missing boat in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, which gets its information from calls from migrants or their relatives, the boat sought left on June 27 from the Senegalese town of Kafountine, located about 1,700 kilometers from the Canary coast.
“The families informed us of the disappearance of the boat which they had not heard from for several days” and “we alerted the Spanish and Moroccan emergency services”, indicated the founder of this NGO, Helena Maleno, in an audio message. According to Caminando Fronteras, two other boats that left Senegal on June 23 are also missing with around 120 people on board in total.
Troubles in Senegal
Senegal, a country reputed to be stable, experienced its worst troubles after opponent Ousmane Sonko was sentenced on June 1 to two years in prison in a sex scandal, a verdict that makes Mr. Sonko ineligible as it stands. These unrest, during which demonstrators challenged a possible third term for President Macky Sall, left 16 dead according to the authorities, 24 according to Amnesty International and 30 according to the opposition.
Macky Sall’s decision on July 3 not to run has eased a very heavy political climate. Spain is one of the main entry points for illegal migrants in Europe, even if this country is often only a stopover, with migrants then going to other EU states.
According to the latest figures from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, 12,704 migrants arrived in Spain illegally in the first half of the year, the majority of them (7,213) in the Canary Islands, a figure down by 11.35% compared to the corresponding period of 2022.
In recent years, the migratory route to the Canary Islands has been particularly busy due to the tightening of controls in the Mediterranean. Shipwrecks are frequent there, the crossing being particularly dangerous because of the strong currents and the state of the boats.
According to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 126 migrants died or disappeared on the crossing to the Canary Islands from January to June. Caminando Fronteras gives the figure of 778 dead or missing.