Three boats carrying hundreds of African migrants have been reported to be missing in the waters off the Canary Islands in the North Atlantic ocean. At the time of filing this report, a search operation led by Spanish rescuers is underway.
According to the humanitarian organization Walking Borders, the fishing boat embarked from Kafountine, a coastal town in southern Senegal, which is approximately 1,700 kilometers (1,057 miles) away from Tenerife.
Approximate location from where the migrant boat reportedly went missing | Map not to scale | Google Maps
Canary Islands missing boats: Who all are missing?
Spain’s Efe news agency reported that the group has mentioned the presence of numerous children on board the biggest of three boats. In total, the said boat is reported to have been boarded by nearly 200 individuals from Kafountine with the intention of reaching the Canary Islands.
Helena Maleno from Walking Borders, quoted by Reuters news agency, stated that one of the boats has around 65 people on board, while the other is carrying up to 60 individuals. This brings the total number of missing people across the three boats to more than 300.
Boat tragedies near Spain
The latest case of boats going missing in the Atlantic occurs after one of the most tragic migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, where an overcrowded trawler sank off the coast of Greece.
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According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in 2022, a minimum of 559 people lost their lives at sea while attempting to reach the Spanish islands. The death toll for 2021 reached 1,126.
The IOM cited Spain’s Interior Ministry, stating that irregular arrivals in the Canary Islands totaled 15,682 individuals in 2022, representing a 30 per cent decrease compared to 2021.
“Despite the year-to-year decrease, the number of people undertaking this perilous route since 2020 remains high compared to previous years,” the IOM said.
