Refugee boat sunk: dozens of migrants drowned in the Atlantic

Status: 01.10.2021 5:15 p.m.

Dozens of migrants drowned on the way to the Canary Islands after their boat capsized – twelve children are said to be among the dead. Another boat with 62 people on board is missing in the Atlantic.

According to Spanish aid organizations, 57 migrants perished in the Atlantic when a boat went down between Africa and the Canary Islands. Among the fatalities were twelve children, reported Helena Maleno Garzón from the Caminando Fronteras aid organization, which is well networked in Africa. In the accident, 28 women and 17 men drowned. It was not known at the moment whether there were survivors.

Another refugee boat is missing

Another boat that went into the water with 62 occupants in Dakhla in the Western Sahara territory claimed by Morocco in order to reach the Canary Islands, some 400 kilometers away, has also been missing since Thursday, wrote Maleno Garzón on Twitter. “Put an end to this massacre at the border!” Demanded the journalist and human rights activist who founded the respected non-governmental organization in 2002.

Well over 2000 people drowned or went missing

According to Caminando Fronteras, in the first six months of the current year alone, at least 2087 migrants died trying to reach Spain and thus the EU by water. That is almost as many people as died in the sea or disappeared without a trace in the entire previous year (2170), it said.

The number of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands, which belongs to Spain, has increased dramatically since last year. EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson had already declared at the end of 2020 that this was now the “deadliest” refugee route.

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