In search of a boat missing in the Atlantic since June 27, the Spanish rescuers may have a result. A boat that can carry around 200 migrants was located Monday off the Canary Islands and would correspond to that which left Senegal almost two weeks ago, said a spokeswoman for Salvamento Maritimo.
“The plane” deployed by the Spanish sea rescue service “located a boat which seems to be the one we are looking for because from the air, (the rescuers) saw that there could be around 200 people on board”, she explains. “We cannot confirm it 100% yet but it is likely that it is the same”, she underlined.
Two other boats missing
According to this spokesperson, a ship left the Canary archipelago to rescue this boat, located 71 nautical miles south of the island of Gran Canaria, and should take several hours to bring them back to the archipelago. At the request of the Spanish authorities, a merchant ship also set sail for the area where the boat was located.
According to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, which gets its information from calls from migrants or their relatives, the boat sought left on June 27 from the Senegalese town of Kafountine, located about 1,700 kilometers from the Canary coast. “The families informed us of the disappearance of the boat, which they had not heard from for several days” and “we alerted the Spanish and Moroccan emergency services”, indicated the founder of this NGO, Helena Maleno, in an audio message. According to Caminando Fronteras, two other boats that left Senegal on June 23 are also missing with around 120 people on board in total.