Five migrants die on boat en route to Canary Islands

Five African migrants died while attempting to reach Spain's Canary Islands, Spanish rescuers said on Thursday. An NGO said dozens more may have died.

Spain's maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, said it rescued 44 men from sub-Saharan Africa from a boat drifting around 120 kilometres southwest of Gran Canaria on Wednesday night.

Three survivors were immediately evacuated by helicopter to a hospital on the island. The remaining 41 migrants were brought to safety by boat and disembarked early Thursday in the port of Arguineguin, where they were cared for by the Red Cross.

"Adverse weather conditions", including strong winds and 2.5-metre waves, initially prevented rescuers from recovering the five bodies on board before the vessel was taken to the port, Salvamento Maritimo said.

All survivors were men, some underage, and came from Mali or Senegal, said José Antonio Rodríguez Verona, a spokesperson for the Red Cross in the Canaries.

Helena Maleno, a spokeswoman for Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras, said on X that 83 migrants, including three women and a baby girl, had died on a boat that left Gambia 27 days earlier - although it is unclear if the two reports refer to the same incident.

The NGO compiles its figures using information from migrants' families and official rescue statistics, and its death tolls are often higher than those reported by authorities.

A Salvamento Maritimo spokeswoman told AFP that the other alleged victims "have not been found or rescued" and that the alternative death toll could not be confirmed.

The Canary Islands are a major entry point to Europe for migrants travelling from West Africa, a route considered particularly dangerous because of strong currents and often overcrowded vessels.

After exceeding 46,000 in 2024, arrivals have fallen sharply. Some 5,163 migrants reached the islands by sea between 1 January and 31 August, down 57% year-on-year, according to Spain's Interior Ministry.