Five killed, dozens more feared dead in boat adrift off Canary Islands

Spanish migrant NGO says more than 80 people likely perished on the boat that left The Gambia 27 days ago.

Al Jazeera2026-09-03 15:00查看原文 ↗

Spanish migrant NGO says more than 80 people likely perished on the boat that left The Gambia 27 days ago.

Rescuers help a man disembark from a Spanish coastguard vessel at the port of Arguineguin, on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, on September 3, 2026 [Borja Suarez/Reuters]

The bodies of five people have been recovered after a boat carrying West Africans was rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands, maritime rescue authorities have said, as an NGO warns that dozens more may have perished.

Spain’s maritime rescue service Salvamento Maritimo said on Thursday that one of its boats rescued 44 men from a boat drifting some 120km (75 miles) south of the island of Gran Canaria on Wednesday evening.

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“Adverse weather conditions” initially prevented the retrieval of five corpses that remained on board before it was taken to the port of Arguineguin, the service said on social media.

Three survivors in critical condition were immediately evacuated by helicopter to a hospital on the island, while the remaining 41 people received care from the Red Cross.

All survivors were men, some underage, and came from Mali or Senegal, said Jose Antonio Rodriguez Verona, a spokesperson for the Red Cross in the Canaries.

But Helena Maleno, a spokesperson for the Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras, said on social media that 83 migrants and refugees had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left The Gambia 27 days ago.

The NGO compiles its data based on testimonies from migrants’ families and the official statistics of those rescued. Its tolls are often higher than the authorities’ figures.

A Salvamento Maritimo spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the other alleged victims “have not been found or rescued” and that the alternative death toll could not be confirmed.

It was unclear if more resources would be deployed to search for the other victims, she added.

Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo said the tragedy underscored the need for a state policy on migration.

“It is intolerable that lives continue to be lost. The Canaries cannot get used to or accept as normal the fact that the Atlantic continues to be a death trap,” Clavijo said on social media.

The Canary Islands are one of the main gateways into Europe for people fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution alongside Mediterranean routes to Italy and Greece.

The long journey from West Africa is one of the world’s deadliest, due to strong currents and the often ramshackle, overloaded vessels.

After peaking in 2024 at more than 46,000, arrivals to the Atlantic archipelago have fallen sharply thanks to tighter patrols and cooperation with countries of origin and transit.

A total of 5,163 migrants and refugees reached the Canaries by sea from January 1 to August 31, a 57 percent drop on the same period last year, according to interior ministry figures.

西班牙移民非政府组织称，27天前从冈比亚出发的船上可能有80多人丧生。

2026 年 9 月 3 日，救援人员在西班牙大加那利岛阿尔吉内金港帮助一名男子从一艘西班牙海岸警卫队船只上下来 [Borja Suarez/路透社]

海上救援部门表示，一艘载有西非人的船只在西班牙加那利群岛附近获救，目前已找到五具遗体；与此同时，一家非政府组织警告称，可能有数十人遇难。

西班牙海上救援服务机构 Salvamento Maritimo 周四表示，其一艘船只于周三晚上从一艘在格兰加纳利岛以南约 120 公里（75 英里）处漂流的船只上救起了 44 名男子。

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该机构在社交媒体上表示，“恶劣的天气条件”最初阻碍了从船上打捞出五具遗体，这些遗体在船只被运往阿尔圭内金港之前一直留在船上。

三名情况危急的幸存者立即被直升机送往岛上的医院，其余 41 人接受了红十字会的治疗。

红十字会加那利群岛发言人何塞·安东尼奥·罗德里格斯·维罗纳表示，所有幸存者都是男性，其中一些是未成年人，他们来自马里或塞内加尔。

但西班牙移民援助非政府组织 Caminando Fronteras 的发言人 Helena Maleno 在社交媒体上表示，27 天前从冈比亚出发的一艘船上，有 83 名移民和难民死亡，其中包括 3 名妇女和 1 名女婴。

该非政府组织的数据来源于移民家属的证词和官方公布的获救人数统计。其统计的数字通常高于官方数据。