At least 9 migrants have died and 48 are missing after a boat capsized near El Hierro, one of Spain's Canary Islands, while they were being rescued by Spanish authorities. The incident occurred on September 28, 2024, as the migrants called emergency services shortly after midnight.
The Spanish maritime rescue organization reported that 84 people were on board the vessel, with 9 bodies recovered and a search operation underway for the 48 missing individuals. There are 27 survivors who were rescued, with the capsizing taking place 4 miles south of the port of La Estaca in the Atlantic Ocean.
During the rescue operations, the boat overturned as its occupants clustered to one side. The rescue was complicated by nighttime conditions and adverse weather, with wind gusts reaching approximately 37 kilometers per hour. Of the 27 rescued, 25 were taken to the town of La Restinga, and two were evacuated by helicopter.
Emergency sources indicated to EFE that all occupants of the capsized boat were men, and one of the recovered bodies belonged to an adolescent aged between 12 and 15 years. It was reported by a family member to the NGO Caminando Fronteras that the vessel had departed from Mauritania heading to the Canary Islands, and included at least four children aged 7 to 11 years.
The Canary Islands route for migration, which involves boats leaving the Atlantic coast of Africa for the Spanish archipelago, is among the most dangerous in the world; in the first seven months of 2024, it has claimed 702 lives. Since the arrival of two young Sahrawis in a simple boat to the Spanish archipelago in August 1994, around 200,000 migrants have taken this route to reach Europe, according to Spain's Ministry of the Interior.