A precarious boat with the bodies of 24 immigrants (two of them minors) arrived in the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands this Wednesday, as announced by local authorities.
The raft arrived at the port of Los Cristianos, on the island of Tenerife, where hearse awaited and emergency services.
“The fire department is taking these people out of the boat and putting them in the tent, and then take them to the funeral home“, declared to the press Domingo Martin, of the Red Cross, in Tenerife.
A Spanish air force plane carrying out a routine patrol detected the presence of the vessel last Monday, some 500 kilometers southeast of the island of El Hierro.
Several people in a boat, before being rescued in Tenerife. Photo EFE / Archive.
Three survivors who were traveling in this boat, two men and a woman, were transported by helicopter to a hospital in Tenerife on Monday. One of the men was severely dehydrated.
“They were so weak that I had to lean on the ringer to keep them upright,” he said. Juan Carlos Serrano, a member of the air force team that rescued the migrants by helicopter.
According to a spokesman for maritime aid, all the occupants of the vessel came from the Sub-saharan africa.
The death of the 24 people “it is one of the most important tragedies“Since the last migration crisis in 2006.
On that occasion, the archipelago off the northwestern coast of Africa received a historic wave of about 30,000 migrants, according to the government delegation.
The journey to the Canary Islands from Africa, dangerous due to the strong currents, became the priority for migrants, due to the difficulties imposed by the European Union in the Mediterranean.
Arrivals in the archipelago multiplied by eight in 2020 compared to the previous year, reaching 23,023 people.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) released a statement in which they explained why this route is dangerous.
“The sea at this time of year and the long distances they travel, which can go between 400 and 1,500 kilometersDepending on the starting point on the West African coast, they make this route especially dangerous, “they stated.
“These boats they are sometimes adrift for several dayswithout water or food, “they added. Both UNHCR and IOM declared themselves” dismayed “by this latest tragedy.
According to the association Caminando Fronteras, which monitors migration flows, in 2020 1,851 people died on this route.
Source: AFP.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/migration-crisis-they-find-a-raft-with-24-dead-passengers-in-the-canary-islands/
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