The Western Africa-Atlantic migration route is considered one of the world's deadliest.
By Oliver SlowMore than 30 migrants may have drowned after their boat sank in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary Islands, two charities have said.Spanish authorities said rescue workers found the bodies of a minor and a man, and rescued 24 other people - but did not know how many people were onboard.
Helena Maleno Garzon, from Walking Borders. said that 39 people had drowned, including four women and a baby, while Alarm Phone said 35 people were missing. Both organisations monitor migrant boats and receive calls from people on board or their relatives."It's torture to have 60 people, including six women and a baby, waiting for more than 12 hours for a rescue in a flimsy inflatable boat that can sink," Ms Garzon said.
The ship did not aid the dinghy because the operation had been taken over by Moroccan officials, which dispatched a patrol boat that arrived on Wednesday morning, 10 hours after it had been spotted by a Spanish rescue plane, Reuters reports.Angel Victor Torres, leader of the Canary Islands region, described the incident as a "tragedy" and called on the European Union to establish a migration policy that "offers coordinated and supportive responses" to the issue of migration.
IOM said there were 45 shipwrecks on the route during that period, but acknowledged the figure is "probably underestimated" because data is scarce and incomplete.
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