Hundreds of African migrants reported missing off Spain’s Canary Islands

Three missing boats were said to be carrying roughly 200 people each and had left Senegal on June 23.

Wale Agbede • July 12, 2023

Migrant boat used to illustrate the story.

Hundreds of migrants from Senegal have gone missing while heading to the Canary Islands through the Atlantic Ocean.

Coordinator for the humanitarian organisation Walking Borders, or ‘Caminando Fronteras’ in Spanish, Helena Maleno Garzon, reported that the boats left Senegal in late June.

According to Ms Garzon, three boats left the southern town of Kafountine four days after another two, with each carrying roughly 200 people, on June 23 from the coastal city of Mbour in central Senegal.

Since the boats left, there has been no communication with them, she claimed.

“The most important thing is to find those people. There are many people missing in the sea. This isn’t normal. We need more planes to look for them,” Ms Garzon told the Associated Press.

Following the missing persons alert, Spanish officials have rescued 86 people from a boat near the Canary Islands on Monday.

The rescued boat is described by Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service as a multicoloured, 20-meter-long (65-foot) canoe of the kind known in Senegal as a pirogue.

However, the rescue agency said that it could not confirm whether the salvaged boat was one of the three reported missing.

The agency reported that 80 men and six women had been rescued and were on their way to Spanish land by Monday evening.

It said that it had warned ships travelling in the Atlantic waters between Canary Islands and West Africa to keep an eye out for any remaining missing migrant boats.

According to Walking Borders, the Atlantic migration route is one of the world’s worst, with approximately 800 deaths or missing persons reported in the first half of 2023.

With a record of more than 23,000 migrants coming in 2020, the Canary Islands is one of the primary destinations for foreigners trying to reach Spain in recent years. More than 7,000 migrants and refugees entered the Canaries in the first half of this year.

According to the Spanish aid organisation, most of the boats leave from Morocco, Western Sahara, and Mauritania, with a smaller number leaving from Senegal.

However, the group reported that since June, at least 19 Senegalese boats have docked in the Canary Islands.

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