Boats carrying more than 300 migrants missing near Canary Islands

‘The families are very worried. There are about 300 people from the same area of Senegal’

File. The wreck of a traditional Mauritanian fishing boat, known as a pirogue, also used by migrants to reach Spain’s Canary Islands, sits on a beach near Nouadhibou, Mauritania, Thursday, 2 December 2021 (Associated Press)

Three boats carrying more than 300 migrants from Senegal have gone missing off Spain’s Canary Islands, it was reported.

The migrant aid group Walking Borders said on Sunday that the family members of those on board have not heard from them since they left last month.

Reuters reported that two boats, one carrying about 65 people and the other with between 50 and 60 on board, have been missing for 15 days since they left Senegal.

Helena Maleno of Walking Borders said that a third boat left Senegal on 27 June with about 200 people aboard.

All three boats with African migrants onboard have gone missing.

BBC reported that Spain’s Salvamento Maritimo – the country’s sea search and rescue organisation – is leading the efforts to find the missing boats in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Western Africa.

“The families are very worried. There are about 300 people from the same area of Senegal. They have left because of the instability in Senegal,” Ms Maleno told news media.

The fishing boat reportedly sailed from Kafountine, a coastal town in southern Senegal.

There are many children onboard the boats as well, Spain’s Efe news agency reported.

This comes just weeks after at least 78 people died in one of the worst Mediterranean migrant shipwrecks off the coast of Greece. The United Nations said that at least 500 people were still missing.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, nearly 1700 people have died while trying to come to the Canary Islands via boats since 2021.

On Sunday, one migrant was reported dead and 10 others missing after a boat that had set sail from Tunisia and was headed to Italy sank in the Mediterranean Sea.