After an intense weekend of immigrants arriving in the Canary Islands, with 1,136 people aboard 16 boats, this morning the islands woke up to the worst news. 13 people, including three women, died after falling into the water from the flimsy inflatable boat in which they were trying to reach the coasts of the islands from Taruma, in the province of Laayoune.
The boat was traveling with a total of 51 people, of whom 38 have arrived alive, as reported yesterday on the social network ‘X’ before Twitter, Helena Maleno, founder of the NGO Caminando Fronteras.
From Maritime Salvage it was indicated yesterday that there was no record of this shipwreck because the shipwreck did not occur at the time of the rescue. “It may be that the boat left Morocco with 51 people and 13 died on the way, but of course, when action was taken, there were no people in the water and no victims,” these sources indicate. According to them, the immigrants themselves did not report upon their arrival that the boat’s occupants were missing. Caminando Fronteras claims that 13 people are missing from this boat and that they have died during the journey, according to what the NGO has verified from family testimonies. Helena Maleno points out that this rescue resulted in 39 people, of which 38 are sub-Saharans and one Moroccan, who was not from that boat.
The early morning, like the weekend, was intense in arrivals. During the early morning a boat with 45 people arrived in Lanzarote. While the rescue services were working there, they detected a pneumatic tire that was in a complicated situation and rescued 47 more people. Shortly after, action was taken in Fuerteventura on the wrecked boat: 39 people arrived alive and 12 perished underwater, as recounted in ‘X’ by the migration expert, Txema Santana. This morning, a canoe was rescued on the island of Tenerife.
The arrival does not stop and from the Government of the Canary Islands, its president, Fernando Clavijo, demands from the State more means to attend to the immigrants who arrive on the Canary coasts in a dignified manner. From the Executive there is fear of an intensification in the coming weeks, when the state of the sea improves, and that it is usually a strong moment in the arrival of boats.
The island of El Hierro has already been overwhelmed. Today, 500 immigrants will be transferred by boat from El Hierro to Tenerife after more than 400 people arrived this weekend to this small island due to the saturation of the island’s centers.
