Five people were found dead after Spanish maritime rescuers rescued 44 men from a migrant boat drifting about 120km south of Gran Canaria, authorities said. Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish migrant-aid organisation, said 83 migrants and refugees may have died, but the higher toll has not been confirmed.
What rescuers found
Salvamento Maritimo said its crew reached the boat on Wednesday evening. Adverse weather initially prevented the retrieval of five corpses that remained on board, before the vessel was taken to the port of Arguineguin.
Three survivors in critical condition were evacuated by helicopter to a hospital on Gran Canaria. The other 41 people received care from the Red Cross; all the survivors were men, some of them underage, and came from Mali or Senegal, according to Red Cross spokesperson Jose Antonio Rodriguez Verona.
Why the death toll remains disputed
Helena Maleno of Caminando Fronteras said 83 people had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left The Gambia 27 days earlier. The organisation bases its figures on testimony from migrants’ families and official records of people rescued.
A Salvamento Maritimo spokesperson said the other alleged victims had not been found or rescued, so the alternative death toll could not be confirmed. It was unclear whether additional resources would be sent to search for them.
The wider Atlantic route
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo said the deaths showed the need for a state migration policy and warned that the Atlantic route could not be treated as normal. The islands are a major entry route into Europe for people fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution.
Interior Ministry figures show that 5,163 migrants and refugees reached the Canaries by sea between January 1 and August 31, 57 percent fewer than during the same period last year. Arrivals peaked at more than 46,000 in 2024.
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