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The bodies of 80 people, including a child, have been recovered from a drifting boat off the coast of Spain’s Canary Islands, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry.
Another 44 people were rescued alive from the same boat, ABC News reported on Friday. The boat was first located on Wednesday.
Authorities believe more than 100 people had been aboard the vessel, which had been drifting at sea for around 26 days. The Spanish Interior Ministry said the boat departed from The Gambia on August 7.
The Spanish Maritime Rescue and Safety Society located the boat at around 6:40pm local time on Wednesday, approximately 65 miles southwest of the Canary Islands town of Arguineguin.
A rescue vessel reached the scene at around 11pm and rescued 44 men from the boat. Authorities said all of the survivors were nationals of sub-Saharan African countries.
Three of the rescued people were in critical condition and were airlifted to a hospital in the Canary Islands. The others were taken to the port of Arguineguin early Thursday morning.
Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo expressed deep concern over the incident, saying it could not be accepted as normal that the Atlantic had become a route to death for migrants.
Source: ABC News