The Canary Islands migratory route once again experienced a painful day on Wednesday, Christmas Day, with almost 400 people arriving on the islands in seven cayucos. In the early hours of this Thursday, three other boats were located and rescued in Tenerife and El Hierro, according to Canarian public television, bringing the number of migrants to 583 who arrived in the archipelago in just 24 hours; Among them there are at least 13 minors and three babies.
The first of the canoes was rescued by the Maritime Rescue vessel Salvamar Acrux during the early hours of Wednesday and arrived at around 3:00 a.m. with 80 men of sub-Saharan origin in apparent good health; Among them were three minors, according to sources from the health and emergency services. The second boat was located about 18 kilometers south of the island by the Salvamar Adhara and arrived at port around 1:40 p.m. with 75 people on board, including 15 women and eight minors; two of these, According to the migrants’ story, they would have made a four-day journey from Nouadhibou (Mauritania) and people from Senegal, Mali, Gambia and Guinea-Conakry were sailing on board the canoe.
The third canoe was also rescued south of El Hierro by the Salvamar Acrux and arrived in port around two in the afternoon on Wednesday. There were 65 people of sub-Saharan origin traveling on it, 18 of them women and one minor, according to information collected from health and emergency services. The survivors also reported that they had made a four-day journey from Nouadhibou.
Another 40 migrants arrived on the island of Tenerife at the port of Los Cristianos, including four women and three minors, who were rescued by the Guardamar Polimnia after its crew members, around 9:15 on Wednesday, asked for help at 112 without specifying their location. exact, although a repeater from La Gomera located them. To the port of Arguineguín, the Guardamar Calíope towed a fifth canoe, whose occupants it could not previously rescue because the sea conditions, with waves of one and a half meters, made transshipment inadvisable. The number of migrants traveling on this boat has not been provided. Another canoe with 60 men and four women had previously been escorted to this port in Gran Canaria. The sixth boat, with 63 people on board, was sighted at 3:45 p.m. and its occupants were rescued and taken to Tenerife.
During the early hours of this Thursday, three canoes were located: two of them south of Tenerife and one in El Hierro, and both have been towed to port. There were 63 men on the first boat; and in the second another 66 people, including five women and a baby. In the canoe located near El Hierro, which was escorted to the port of La Restinga early in the morning, there were 67 people. According to the story of the migrants, among whom there are citizens of Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Guinea-Conakry and Ivory Coast, they had been sailing for five days since they left Nouadhibou (Mauritania).
