The NGO Alarm Phone warns that at least 150 people are in danger on the migration route to the Canary Islands. The organization, which has a hotline that migrants in danger call, reports that the canoe left Niodior, Senegal, on October 21 and suffered engine failure. “This means that from this moment on they are adrift in extremely adverse weather conditions,” they add. The Archipelago recorded significant rain this weekend and is expecting strong gusts of wind in the coming hours. Alarm Phone denounces that neither Spain nor Morocco have yet taken charge of relief and demands that all available means be activated immediately. “No rescue operation is underway,” they say on their X account.
To the questions of Canary Islands nowMaritime Rescue assured that the operation was coordinated “from the first moment” by Morocco, since the ship was located 400 miles from Gran Canaria and closer to Western Sahara, “around 80 miles”. “Moroccan and Mauritanian authorities are monitoring and, from Maritime Rescue, we are issuing radio warnings to shipping, warning vessels in the area to be vigilant,” they add.
Alarm Phone received the first call in the early hours of October 26, five days after the barge left Senegal. In this first notice, the migrants reported the number of occupants of the cayuco, the exit point and, in addition, they assured that the people were exhausted. According to the NGO, that same night they alerted the Salvamento Marítimo de Las Palmas, providing them with the satellite telephone number so that they could track the boat’s position.
A few hours later, Alarm Phone ensures that the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (CCRM) in Madrid informed them that Morocco would take charge of the case. However, the NGO assures in a press release published on its website that Rabat admitted having no rescue system in the region and that it had therefore limited itself to asking a merchant ship to search for the vessel.
“We are urgently calling on all relevant authorities to come to their aid. We demand safe passage and freedom of movement for all,” underlines Alarm Phone, which also criticizes Moroccan rescue teams for “the lack of capacity and willingness to help people who are at the mercy of the wind and waves in the Atlantic”. The NGO also denounces that Spain did not provide aid “although it knows the position and situation of the ship and is perfectly aware of the incapacity of the authority supposedly responsible.
Meanwhile, Alarm Phone continues to attempt to contact migrants traveling in Cayuco, but communications have not been successful in recent hours.
