Canary Islands migrant boat: five dead, NGO says 83

Spanish rescuers said five African migrants died on the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, while a migrant aid NGO said the toll could be far higher.

Spain's maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, said one of its boats rescued 44 men of sub-Saharan origin from a boat drifting 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria on Wednesday night.

The service said adverse weather initially prevented rescuers from retrieving five bodies that remained on board before the boat was taken to the port of Arguineguin.

Helena Maleno, a spokeswoman for the Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras, said on X that 83 migrants had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left Gambia 27 days earlier.

A Salvamento Maritimo spokeswoman told AFP that the other alleged victims had not been found or rescued and that the higher death toll could not be confirmed. She said it was unclear whether more resources would be deployed to search for them.

The Canary Islands are one of the main sea gateways into Europe for migrants fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution. Spain's Interior Ministry said 5,163 migrants reached the islands by sea from January 1 to August 31, down 57 percent from the same period last year.