El Hierro emergency services have recovered nine bodies and they are searching for at least 50 more bodies after knocking down last night, a canoe, from which they were able to rescue 27 people alive, off the coast of the Las Playas area, in the municipality of Valverde.
All the occupants of the overturned canoe were men and it cannot be ruled out that there were minors because one of the bodies found corresponds to the of a teenager of approximately 12 to 15 years old, as EFE was informed by sources from the island’s emergency services, who also specify that of the 27 people rescued, 25 were transferred to La Restinga and two were evacuated by helicopter.
Likewise, they detailed that the occupants of the canoe itself, in which it is estimated that about 80 people were travelingare the ones who informed 112 of their whereabouts and that the rescue took place around 3 a.m. Currently, members of the Civil Guard and Maritime Rescue are in the Las Playas area searching for other bodies.
A total of three canoes arrived in El Hierro last night, including the one that capsized, and a fourth boat is sought which they have not been able to locate at this time. In the first to arrive at La Restinga at midnight, a total of 131 people were traveling, including 107 men and 15 women, as well as five children and four babies, according to the same emergency sources.
The second corresponds to the nine dead and 50 missing and The third arrived around 7:30 a.m. with 20 people, among them, 18 men, a woman and a child. Ten people from the three cayucos received health care in the port of La Restinga. Also last night, a boat was rescued in Lanzarote with 57 people, including three women, who were transferred to Puerto Naos.
