A BABY is among over 80 people found dead after a boat carrying migrants was found adrift off the Canary Islands.
The small boat reportedly left Gambia 26 days ago for Europe with 128 on board and was only discovered after a plane spotted the vessel in trouble on the water.
The packed, ramshackle vessel – known as a cayuco – was found drifting 75 miles south of Gran Canaria after the alarm was raised around 7.40pm.
Spanish coastguards found just 45 survivors, made up of one woman and 44 men, on board the stricken boat when they reached it just after midnight.
Three people had to be airlifted to hospital as rescuers were forced to leave another five migrants on the boat due to the rough sea conditions.
The five people are presumed dead and believed to be among the death toll.
Rescuers took the remaining migrants to the Arguineguin Port in the south-east of the holiday island where they arrived at around 5.20am this morning.
Survivors told Red Cross officials they were trying to reach the Canary Islands, according to local reports.
The Civil Guard said markings on the hull of the boat also matched up to a missing cayuco that set off from Africa on September 7.
Helena Maleno Garzon, from human rights group ONG Caminando Fronteras, has claimed 83 people including three women died.
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She said: “Eighty-three people have died, among them three women and a baby, on a cayuco boat that left Gambia 27 days ago.
“The survivors have been taken to Gran Canaria. May their souls rest in peace.”