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INPRIMATU
37 deaths near the Canary Islands after waiting for twelve hours the rescue
  • “Spain has repeated what Greece did,” said Helena Maleno, founder of the NGO Walking Borders.
Ilargi Manzanares 2023ko ekainaren 22a

37 people have died on Wednesday, between two children, while waiting for the rescue on the boat. Twelve hours have passed, 80 miles from the coast of Gran Canaria and 40 from Western Sahara. The non-governmental organization Walking Borders compares the tragedy that has just happened on the Greek coast. It denounces that once again Governments have failed to meet the obligation to rescue migrants. The rescue teams have rescued 24 people. A child's body is recovered, but the 36 deaths are still missing.

The migrants spoke with Walking Borders to explain their dangerous situation and give them the location on Tuesday afternoon. The NGO spoke to the emergency services of Spain because the ship was in the rescue area of Spain, but the emergency services began to talk to the Moroccan authorities to coordinate the rescue. They were finally rescued by Morocco, twelve hours later, but it was late.

Helena Maleno, founder of Walking Frontier, defines the situation that migrants have suffered as “torture”. The Spanish intermediary sent a message to help the migrants to the ships nearby, but only one cargo ship approached and did not intervene until the boat sank.

Some rescues have occurred

On Tuesday, Salvamento Marítima rescued 114 migrants near Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, Lanzarote occupied 53 and Gran Canaria 61. On Thursday morning, in the Mediterranean, Aita Mari rescues 172 people at sea during a team operation with the Nadir. Migrants head to Salero.