{"id":120393,"date":"2021-04-27T12:51:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T04:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=120393"},"modified":"2021-04-27T12:51:38","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T04:51:38","slug":"17-migrants-found-dead-off-spains-canary-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=120393","title":{"rendered":"17 migrants found dead off Spain\u2019s Canary Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MADRID, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seventeen people were found dead Monday on a boat drifting off El Hierro in Spain\u2019s Canary Islands, officials said, as migrant arrivals to the archipelago surge despite the deadly dangers of the crossing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Spanish military helicopter airlifted three survivors \u2014 two men and a woman \u2014 to a hospital on the island of Tenerife, local emergency services said in a tweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the men was in serious condition with \u201csevere dehydration\u201d, it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Spanish air force plane first spotted the boat some 265 nautical miles southeast of El Hierro on Monday morning and a search and rescue vessel was deployed to the area, a spokeswoman for Spain\u2019s maritime rescue service said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migrants on the boat were all sub-Saharan Africans, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not immediately clear where the boat had embarked from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month four people were found dead in a makeshift boat that was found south of El Hierro, with 23 migrants on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its shortest, the sea crossing to the Atlantic islands from the Moroccan coast is around 100 kilometres, but it is a notoriously dangerous route because of strong currents. Vessels are also typically overcrowded and in poor condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Migrant arrivals on the archipelago surged after increased patrols along Europe\u2019s southern coast dramatically reduced crossings to the continent via the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 3,400 people arrived in the Canaries between January 1 and March 31 this year, compared with less than half that number over the same period in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rights groups have warned that the Covid-19 crisis has spurred the flight effect, with those working in tourism, fishing or other casual jobs in north Africa choosing to cross the Atlantic \u2014 or helping others do so with their boats after being left penniless by the economic meltdown triggered by the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, 1,851 people died on the route, according to the Caminando Fronteras organisation which monitors migrant flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The founder of the NGO, Helena Maleno, tweeted that in the last month \u201cat least\u201d 283 people have disappeared while making their way to the Canaries on five different boats from Mauritania.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile around 100 migrants tried to swim to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco on Sunday, Spanish police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The migrants, including minors, set off in groups of 20 to 30 throughout the day, a spokesman for the Guardia Civil police force in Ceuta said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A handful managed to reach a beach in Ceuta on their own but most had to be rescued by Spanish rescue boats, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not normal \u2014 there can be groups of three, four or five, but not this many,\u201d the police spokesman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceuta, together with a second Spanish enclave in north Africa, Melilla, have the European Union\u2019s only land borders with Africa, making them popular entry points for migrants seeking a better life in Europe. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MADRID, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Seventeen people were found dead Monday on a boat drifting off El Hierro in Spain\u2019s Canary Islands, officials said, as migrant arrivals to the archipelago surge despite the deadly dangers of the crossing. A Spanish military helicopter airlifted three survivors \u2014 two men and a woman \u2014 to a hospital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":120395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213,209],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120393"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/120395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}