More than 560 immigrants were rescued in the waters south of El Hierro and east of Lanzarote during a night in which two new tragedies were confirmed on the Canary Islands route: the sinking of an inflatable boat, with one death, and a canoe crossing to which only ten of the approximately 60 people who launched it survived.
This is the remainder of ten maritime rescue operations taking place in a very intense weekendin which until Saturday afternoon alone, 841 migrants had arrived in El Hierro and Lanzarote aboard thirteen boats, but the flow remained constant during the night from Saturday to Sunday.
In Lanzarote, the ship Regina saved 54 people of a deflating boat, some of them in the water, so the Guardamar Concepción Arenal went to the scene, where they recovered two more people alive and another deceased.
Concepción Arenal saved two other boats with 50 people each and will arrive with all the rescued people in Arrecife around 11:00.
375 kilometers away south of El Hierroa merchant ship provided the ten survivors of a canoe that left Senegal with around sixty people, as reported by the Maritime Rescue crew.
On Saturday afternoon, Maritime rescue He received notification from this merchant ship that it had sighted a canoe with about eight people, one of whom jumped into the sea and was hauled aboard.
Salvamento ordered the merchant ship’s crew to stay alongside the canoe and sent the Guardamar boat Talía to meet them.
During the voyage, the merchant’s crewand had already gathered all the occupants who remained in the cayuco, who ultimately numbered ten in total and not eight as they had announced at the beginning.
The survivors, who declared having left Senegal around 60 peopleare already on board the Guardamar Talía, which is heading to the port of La Restinga, in El Hierro, where their arrival is expected around 11 a.m. local time.
Two more cayucos were taken to El Hierro Saturday evening and early Sunday morning.
At 10 p.m., Salvamar Adhara transferred 42 people to Restinga, all men of Pakistani and Mauritanian nationality, who said they had left the Mauritanian coast in Nouakchott five days ago.
On Sunday at 2 a.m., the Salvamar Mizar and Salvamar Adhara arrived with 150 people, including nine women and several minorsrescued from a cayuco 110 kilometers from the coast, whose occupants had warned that there was a leak.
One of the occupants of this barge was evacuated by helicopter due to its poor condition.
East of Lanzarote, the Guardamar Urania saved three boats: one with 56 people, another with 43 and the last with 58, who were landed in Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura.
Also in Arrecife the arrival of the fishing boat Zerruco Erregina, which rescued 45 people from an inflatable boat, is expected to arrive around 1 p.m.
