On Thursday night, a Moroccan patrol boat rescued 44 Sub-Saharan migrants from an inflatable boat attempting to reach the Spanish Atlantic islands of the Canaries.
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The rescue took place approximately 42 kilometers off Cape Bojador (Western Sahara) and about 287 kilometers south of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. Among those saved were 35 males, 8 females, and one minor.
The Spanish NGO Walking Borders reported that there were initially 58 people on board, resulting in one confirmed fatality and 13 missing individuals.
It is believed that 17 women initially embarked on the boat, leaving eight women missing, in addition to the one found dead on the boat.
The initial count also indicates that there might be a minor among the missing. Apparently, the occupants had been calling for help since 2:00 PM on Thursday, although the Moroccan patrol boat rescued them when it was already nighttime.
"I am a nine-month pregnant woman, I am on the float. All the guys in the middle of the boat have disappeared… So far, we have not seen the Navy. Please help us, help us!" said a woman in a recording that reached the Walking Borders (Caminando Fronteras) NGO.
Additionally, two boats carrying 177 migrants reached the Canary Islands in the last few hours after being located by Maritime Rescue near El Hierro and Lanzarote.
Midway through this month, Spain had surpassed 51,000 irregular arrivals in migrant boats for the first time since 2018, when the current historical peak of 57,498 people was reached, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
From January 1 to December 15, at least 51,739 immigrants had arrived on Spanish shores, with 37,187 of them reaching the Canary Islands in 561 boats. Compared to the previous year, irregular arrivals in Spain increased by 140 percent.