Dozens of migrants on their way to the Canary Islands are believed to be dead after the inflatable boat they were traveling in sank, authorities say.
In an initial statement on Wednesday, Alarm Phone—which serves as a hotline for refugees in crisis—reported that approximately 59 people were aboard the inflatable boat from the city of Agadir in Morocco. The boat was headed to Spain’s Canary Islands, the group said, when it encountered “severe distress.” An estimated 24 individuals were rescued by the Royal Moroccan Navy, per the group’s initial statement.
In a separate statement, Helena Maleno Garzón—founder of the human rights collective Walking Borders—said that 39 people had died. Among them, she added, were four women and a baby.
“It is torture to have sixty people, including six women and a baby, waiting for more than twelve hours for rescue in a flimsy inflatable that can sink at any moment,” Garzón said when addressing the response to this tragedy.
Officials in Spain, per a report from Reuters, had formally confirmed the death of two travelers on the boat at the time of this writing.
The deaths come amid heightened criticism of borders at large, with human rights advocates continuing to shine a light on how the approaches of numerous governments has led to a slew of fatal incidents in recent years. At the core of this issue, of course, are people who are simply seeking what they believe will be a better way of life, only to be treated as disposable by indifferent governments when at their most vulnerable.
In April of last year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) shared data showing that more than 3,000 migrants had died or gone missing in 2021. Of those, an estimated 1,153 had died or gone missing on the Northwest African maritime route to the Canary Islands region.
The latest Canary Islands news, notably, follows the deaths of at least 82 migrants (plus hundreds more missing) off the coast of Greece just last week. Meanwhile, the bulk of mainstream news coverage has instead centered on the churning out of near-constant updates regarding a missing submersible that counts two billionaires among those aboard.
