This Monday morning the search for the medium continued Hundreds of people missing after shipwreck of a cayuco on the island of El Hierro, in the Canaries, but without hope of finding him alive. If the death of the missing persons is confirmed, it would be the worst migration tragedy in decades on the islands.
Maritime Rescue, Civil Guard and Red Cross nine bodies were found this Saturday and they continue to search for the bodies of the fifty people missing in the cayuco shipwreck this weekend off the coast of El Hierro. 27 other occupants were rescued alive and, starting this Monday, the island will have a cold tent to shelter recovered bodies.
THE Emergency services have resumed their search for another day. The vast operation, coordinated by the Tenerife Maritime Rescue Center, is made up of the Guardamar Calíope of SM, an LS-Hades boat of the Red Cross, the patrol boat Río Tajo of the Civil Guard, the GES helicopter of the Government from the Canary Islands and a Cuco helicopter from the Civil Guard.
Four Civil Guard patrols remain ready on the ground, made up of eight people, who continue carry out observation work and surveillance from the coast, in addition to four judicial police officers, for forensic rescue work. The government delegate to the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, indicated that the search operation would continue “as long as it takes“, because it is probable that these days, under the effect of the currents, more corpses start to appearas might be expected, further east of the archipelago.
Likewise, the Civil Guard has already set up a cold tent on the island to shelter bodies that might be located during the search and the forensic unit has also sent an additional assistant to attend autopsiesat the same time as the authorizations to bury the nine deceased migrants are being processed.
On the other hand, the CGT union delegate and maritime rescue sailor in the Canary Islands, Manuel Capa, warned that “What is strange is that there have not been more accidents” like what happened in El Hierro, since the canoe capsized during the rescue of the people on board. “Every time we go sailing, it’s a hassle because we end up getting nervous. “You don’t know what you’re going to find,” he said.
“In winter, because the weather is bad. In summer, because the weather is nice and (rescues) are continuous and, ultimately, there are more services, which means there is a greater likelihood of accidents. The strange thing is that there haven’t been this many accidents in our waters before,” Capa said.
Three days of mourning
The Council of Spokespersons of the Cabildo de El Hierro agreed this Monday to decree three days of official mourning for the sinking of the Cayuco. This was put forward by the president of the Cabildo, Alpidio Armas (PSOE), in a statement to the media in which he clarified that it will also be held this Tuesday, at 12:00 p.m., a minute of silence in memory of the victims.
During the spokespersons’ meeting it was also agreed to send a collaboration proposal to provide psychological help for workers who carried out the search and rescue work last Saturday.
Likewise, the Cabildo will convene an extraordinary plenary session to try to approve an institutional declaration in reference to the migration crisis that the island is suffering and the role that other administrations must play. In addition, this fuels the debate on migration and the pressure suffered by the Canary Islands.
