MADRID (AP) — A cruise ship has rescued 68 migrants and found five bodies in a wooden dinghy drifting in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands, Spain’s maritime rescue agency said Thursday.
An oil tanker traveling from northwestern Spain to Brazil spotted the floating boat Wednesday afternoon about 440 nautical miles (815 kilometers or 506 miles) south of Tenerife, one of seven islands in the Canary archipelago.
Spanish authorities diverted the Insignia, a cruise ship, to rescue the migrants. The crew of the Insignia also recovered three of the five bodies on the dinghy. The remains of two people have been left at sea after bad weather hampered their recovery.
The Spanish rescue organization emailed a statement saying the Insignia was expected to arrive at the port of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, on Friday.
The Canary Islands are a destination for boats full of migrants setting out from northwest Africa on a dangerous Atlantic route in search of a better life in Europe.
Spain’s Interior Ministry says a record 55,618 migrants arrived by boat last year – most of them in the Canary Islands – almost double the number the year before. More than 23,000 have landed so far this year, the ministry said.
Spanish non-profit organization Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) says that so far this year, through May, more than 5,000 migrants have died trying to reach Spanish coasts, most via the Atlantic route. The number for all of 2023 was 6,600, more than double the number for 2022.
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