Two bodies were found on a migrant boat headed to Spain's Canary Islands from West Africa in an increasingly popular but dangerous journey. This occurred as Spanish officials have had to contend with a sharp increase in migrants and refugees escaping poverty, conflict, and instability in West Africa as they journey towards the archipelago, seen as a gateway to continental Europe.
The migrants had departed Nouakchott, Mauritania's capital, ten days earlier, according to José Antonio Rodríguez Verona, a Spanish Red Cross coordinator, reported The Associated Press.
They were spotted drifting on Monday evening by a merchant vessel 76 nautical miles (140 kilometers or 87 miles) south of Gran Canaria.
Thirty-eight passengers survived the incident, twelve were taken to a hospital on the island, and four are reportedly in critical condition, according to Spain's Maritime Rescue Service and the Red Cross. The survivors originally come from Mauritania, Mali, and the Ivory Coast. Seven of the passengers were women.
Rescuers were informed on the scene that another five people had died during the trip and were released into the ocean.
The migrant crisis in the archipelago has been an ongoing issue.
The islands are considered a stepping stone for migrants into continental Europe. The increase has led to the European Union's announcement of a new migration partnership with Mauritania in February, which includes 210 million euros ($229 million) for the nation to crack down on smugglers and stop departures.
Roughly 12,000 people have reached the Canaries in the first two months of 2024, says Spain's Interior Ministry, highlighting the number is more than six times what it was last year for the same period.
Most migrants leaving Mauritania are on small fishing boats called pirogues and must navigate for several days amid temperamental winds and Atlantic currents. Despite thousands surviving the voyage, many do die or disappear along the way, with bodies occasionally washing up on the other side of the Atlantic.
Just last week, two pirogues that had left Mauritania were discovered adrift hundreds of miles away near the archipelago nation of Cape Verde, police said. Eleven were rescued from one of the pirogues and five from the other, though one person died later. Five bodies were recovered, while it's believed dozens more are lost at sea.
