MADRID: At least 50 migrants may have drowned while trying to reach Spain by boat from West Africa, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.
Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that left Mauritania on January 2, carrying 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, the group, based in Madrid and Navarre, said.
The rights group said it had informed the authorities of all relevant countries about the missing boat six days ago.
Relatives of the Pakistani migrants who drowned have said that the boat had left for Spain on January 2. According to them, the human traffickers had anchored the boat in the sea and were demanding more money from them.
Alarmphone, a non-governmental organization that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, said it had alerted Spain’s maritime rescue service on January 12.
The service said it had no information about the boat.
Citing a post by Walking Borders on social media platform X, Canary Islands regional leader Fernando Clavejo expressed his sorrow for the victims and urged Spain and Europe to take steps to prevent further tragedies.
“The Atlantic cannot become the graveyard of Africa,” Clavijo said at X. “They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama.”
Walking Borders CEO Helena Malino said on X that 44 of those who drowned were from Pakistan.
“They spent 13 days in agony at the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them,” he said.
According to Walking Borders, a record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, mostly trying to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands.