MADRID: At least one person drowned and 24 were missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off Spain’s Canary Islands, the Spanish coast guard said Tuesday.
The boat departed from Cap Boujdour in Western Sahara with 61 people on board and rescuers overnight only found 36 alive, a spokeswoman for the coast guard said.
Two minors and 10 women were among the survivors rescued off the island of Gran Canaria and transported to safety, she added.
A coast guard spokesman had said earlier on Tuesday that 34 people were rescued and 26 were missing.
According to Spanish NGO, Caminando Fronteras, which helps migrant boats in distress, 27 people died in the accident, including 13 women and six babies.
The Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa has become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Europe.
Spain says that a total 6,359 people arrived in the Canaries illegally by sea between January 1 and April 15, 60 percent more than in the same period in 2021.
Last year as a whole, over 40,000 migrants managed to reach Spain by sea, interior ministry figures show, almost the same number of arrivals as the previous year.
Caminando Fronteras said more than 4,400 migrants were lost at sea trying to reach Spain in 2021, more than double the figure from 2020.
One dead, 24 people missing off Spain’s Canary Islands
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One dead, 24 people missing off Spain’s Canary Islands
- The boat departed from Cap Boujdour in Western Sahara with 61 people on board and rescuers overnight only found 36 alive
- The Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa has become the main destination for migrants trying to reach Europe
UK warship to leave for Cyprus next week: officials
- HMS Dragon, a Type 45 defense destroyer, will sail to aid Britain’s “defensive operations”
- Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of being too slow to deploy additional resources
LONDON: A UK warship due to be sent to Cyprus amid the US and Israel’s war with Iran will not set sail from Britain until next week, Western officials said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that he was deploying HMS Dragon, a Type 45 defense destroyer to aid Britain’s “defensive operations” in the region.
Starmer also said he was sending two Wildcat helicopters with counter-drone capabilities.
The announcement came after several drone attacks from Iran targeted UK allies in the Middle East and after the UK Royal Air Force base Akrotiri was struck overnight Sunday to Monday.
Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of being too slow to deploy additional resources after the war started on Saturday with no British warship in the region.
The destroyer is being resupplied with ammunition and will sail next week, the officials told reporters in London.
“We’ve had to change weapon systems on it, finish welding, get it up and running, and get it sailing as fast as possible,” Defense Minister Al Carns told Sky News.
Its voyage to the eastern Mediterranean is expected to take several days.
Starmer refused to allow the Americans to use UK air bases to launch the initial strikes on Iran on Saturday.
He later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases — one in southwest England and the other in the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean — for a “specific and limited defensive purpose.”
The officials said Wednesday that US bombers have not yet used those bases to launch missions but they are expected to do so in the coming days.
They also said that the drone, which caused little damage and no casualties when it hit the runway at Akrotiri, had not been launched from Iran.
A Cypriot government source said Monday that the drones had been launched from Lebanon, “most likely” by Hezbollah, a historical ally of Iran in the Middle East.
