Two migrants found dead on boat drifting off coast of Spain’s Gran Canaria island
- The vessel was carrying 42 people of North African origin. Two men were found dead and four other people were in a serious condition and taken to hospital
- Eight migrants died on Saturday after a boat that had been adrift for more than a week with 62 people on board sank off Gran Canaria
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Two people were found dead on Monday aboard a boat of migrants drifting off Spain’s Gran Canaria island, the Spanish coastguard said.
Having left the Western Sahara, the vessel was carrying 42 people of North African origin, including a woman, and was located at some 180km (111 miles) south of the island, a spokesman for the coastguard said.
Two men were found dead and four other people were in a serious condition and evacuated by helicopter to a hospital as rescue efforts were under way on Monday evening.
The remaining passengers were to be taken to the port of Arguineguin, in the southern part of Gran Canaria.
Such tragedies are frequent on the dangerous Atlantic route between northwest Africa and the Spanish archipelago.
Eight migrants died on Saturday after a boat that had been adrift for more than a week with 62 people on board sank off Gran Canaria, emergency services said on Sunday.
Some 16,827 migrants have arrived in the Canaries between January and October, an increase of 44 per cent from the same period a year ago, according to Spain’s interior ministry.
