Five killed, dozens more feared dead in boat adrift off Canary Islands

The bodies of five people have been recovered after a boat carrying West Africans was rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands, maritime rescue authorities have said, as an NGO warns that dozens more may have perished.

Spain’s maritime rescue service Salvamento Maritimo said on Thursday that one of its boats rescued 44 men from a boat drifting some 120km (75 miles) south of the island of Gran Canaria on Wednesday evening.

“Adverse weather conditions” initially prevented the retrieval of five corpses that remained on board before it was taken to the port of Arguineguin, the service said on social media.

Three survivors in critical condition were immediately evacuated by helicopter to a hospital on the island, while the remaining 41 people received care from the Red Cross.

All survivors were men, some underage, and came from Mali or Senegal, said Jose Antonio Rodriguez Verona, a spokesperson for the Red Cross in the Canaries.

But Helena Maleno, a spokesperson for the Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras, said on social media that 83 migrants and refugees had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left The Gambia 27 days ago.

The NGO compiles its data based on testimonies from migrants’ families and the official statistics of those rescued. Its tolls are often higher than the authorities’ figures.

A Salvamento Maritimo spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the other alleged victims “have not been found or rescued” and that the alternative death toll could not be confirmed.

It was unclear if more resources would be deployed to search for the other victims, she added.

Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo said the tragedy underscored the need for a state policy on migration.

“It is intolerable that lives continue to be lost. The Canaries cannot get used to or accept as normal the fact that the Atlantic continues to be a death trap,” Clavijo said on social media.

The Canary Islands are one of the main gateways into Europe for people fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution alongside Mediterranean routes to Italy and Greece.

The long journey from West Africa is one of the world’s deadliest, due to strong currents and the often ramshackle, overloaded vessels.

After peaking in 2024 at more than 46,000, arrivals to the Atlantic archipelago have fallen sharply thanks to tighter patrols and cooperation with countries of origin and transit.

A total of 5,163 migrants and refugees reached the Canaries by sea from January 1 to August 31, a 57 percent drop on the same period last year, according to interior ministry figures.