Key facts
- Five migrants were found dead on a boat rescued off the Canary Islands.
- Forty-four survivors were rescued from the vessel.
- Migrant rights groups claim up to 83 people may have died.
- The boat had been adrift for 27 days after departing from The Gambia.
- Three critically injured survivors were airlifted to a hospital.
Spanish Maritime Rescue located a vessel adrift in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Gran Canaria, finding 44 survivors and five deceased individuals. The boat is believed to have departed from The Gambia 27 days prior with 127 occupants. A migrant rights group, Caminando Fronteras, stated that survivors claimed as many as 83 people, including women and a baby, perished during the journey. Rescuers were unable to recover the five bodies due to rough sea conditions. Three survivors were airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, while the remaining 41 disembarked in Gran Canaria. The Atlantic route to the Canary Islands is known as one of the world's deadliest migration crossings. Canary Islands regional leader Fernando Clavijo described the tragedy as evidence of the need for a national migration policy, calling the Atlantic a 'death trap'.