More than a thousand people arrived in boats this weekend at various ports in the Canary Islands, according to Salvament Marítim. On Saturday there were nearly six hundred that ended up on the island of El Hierro, Tenerife or Gran Canaria, while on Sunday up to 8 p.m. another six hundred had been counted. According to the testimony of one of the immigrants who traveled on these boats, during the crossing of one of the shepherds, at least four people died and another one ended up dying when she was attended to at the dock of La Restinga in El Hierro by the emergency services From one of the boats that arrived at the port on their own, seven people had to be admitted due to their state of health. A woman and four men have been identified among the dead, but apparently, during the crossing, they had to throw the body of another victim into the sea.
According to official sources, on Saturday 600 people already arrived on board six shepherds, four in El Hierro, one in Tenerife and another in Gran Canaria.
On Sunday, 600 more people were added, including women and children, who started arriving in the early morning in seven boats after the disembarkation in the last hours of three more boats with 153 people on board in El Hierro and Gran Canaria.
Around 2 p.m., Salvament Marítim was informed by the Civil Guard of the sighting of a shepherd almost 13 kilometers from La Restinga and sent the lifeguard and escorted him to the port, with 81 people of sub-Saharan origin in on board, among them a woman and a minor.
Two hours later the Civil Guard reported the radar location of a boat 16 kilometers from Maspalomas. The lifeguard found a shepherd and rescued the three people on board, all Maghreb men.
Meanwhile, another shepherdess arrived at La Restinga with 69 people – 68 men and one woman – who told the Civil Guard that they were coming next to another even bigger shepherdess, which they lost sight of because the engine or ran out of fuel.
The arrival of these three boats took place after a shepherd with 155 people on board, including 19 women and 15 children, disembarked at ten o’clock in the morning at La Restinga.
Among the passengers on this boat was a pregnant woman who was taken to hospital and there were nationals from Mali, Senegal, Guinea Conakry, Mauritania, Gambia, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.
In addition, on Sunday morning, a total of 261 people arrived on three boats, among whom about ten people had to be taken to health centers.
