42 migrants from Morocco die trying to reach the canary islands

A boat carrying migrants that were attempting to reach the Canary Islands has capsized just 30 minutes after leaving Morocco.

A boat carrying migrants attempting to reach the Canary Islands has capsized just 30 minutes after leaving Dakhla, Morocco. A total of 42 people drowned, including eight children and 30 women.

The NGO Caminando Fronteras said that the incident happened yesterday, Thursday, August 5, and that six women and four men managed to survive the tragedy. One of the surviving women reportedly lost her two children.

The founder of the Spanish charity, Helena Maleno, wrote on her Twitter account that half an hour after leaving Morocco “the boat began to drift off its course.”

The boat was reportedly then hit by a wave and capsized, fishermen who witnessed the incident notified the police, Info Migrants reports.

Caminando Fronteras said that at least 2,087 migrants have died or disappeared at sea while trying to reach Spain in makeshift boats in the first half of this year.

The majority of deaths have been migrants crossing from the West African coast to the Canary Islands, over the Atlantic Ocean. It is believed that only approximately 50 people have died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Morocco to mainland Spain.

She added that as there is insufficient cooperation between Spanish and Moroccan rescue services at sea: “There is no coordination. The information does not circulate between the two states,” she explained, adding that Spanish or Moroccan boats do not reach the migrants in time.

“Migrants can spend a whole day drowning,” she commented.

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