More than 80 migrants, including an infant, are believed dead after a small fishing boat was found adrift in the Atlantic after almost four weeks.
Metro UK reported that only 45 people survived the ordeal on the vessel which set off from Gambia with 128 on board 26 days ago.
The fishing boat was initially on a course for Spain’s Canary Islands, a regular target for migrants looking to enter Europe, before it became lost at sea.
Rescuers reported that five bodies were found among the survivors on board when the canoe-style vessel was found early Thursday morning about 120km off Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
Metro UK reports that survivors told rescuers that they had set sail for the Spanish-controlled islands with “more than one hundred people” on board.
They have been transported to the port of Arguineguin, a fishing town on Gran Canaria.
Spanish authorities told the publication that inscriptions on the hull of the vessel matched a boat which was recorded setting off from the African nation in August.
The tragedy comes just days after four women and three girls died when their small migrant boat capsized on arrival at a port in El Hierro, another one of the Canary Islands.
More to come
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