More than 80 migrants feared dead after boat rescued off Canary Islands
Rescuers found 44 survivors on board the vessel but bad weather meant they had to leave five bodies behind.
More than 80 migrants feared dead after boat rescued off Canary Islands
More than 80 people, including a baby, are feared to have died after a boat drifted in the Atlantic Ocean for 27 days.
Spanish Maritime Rescue teams found the vessel about 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria’s coastal town of Arguineguín on Wednesday, and discovered 44 survivors as well as five dead bodies on board.
The boat is thought to have left The Gambia in West Africa in early August with 127 people aboard. Human rights activist Helena Maleno Garzón, founder of the Spanish charity Caminando Fronteras, said 83 people had died.
Maritime Rescue said crews were unable to recover the five bodies because of rough sea conditions.
The organisation said it could not confirm how many people had originally been on the vessel, as that was outside its remit.
Maritime Rescue said in a statement that the 44 survivors were men from sub-Saharan Africa.
“Once the rescue was complete, adverse weather conditions in the area - featuring 20-knot winds and 2.5m waves - made it impossible to recover the five bodies found on board the vessel,” it added.
Three of the survivors were flown to hospital in critical condition.
The others were taken by sea to Gran Canaria, where they arrived in the early hours of Thursday morning.