Seventeen migrants found dead on boat off Canary Islands

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Seventeen migrants found dead on boat off Canary Islands

SPAIN: Seventeen dead migrants have been found on a boat off the Canary Islands, the Spanish maritime rescue service reports. A helicopter has brought three hypothermic crew to safety.

The ship carrying Africans from sub-Saharan countries sailed a few hundred kilometers southeast of El Hierro, the smallest Canary island. Earlier this month, four dead refugees were found on a boat there. The other nineteen people on board could be rescued.

The number of undocumented migrants arriving in the Canary Islands was over eight times higher last year than in 2019. For example, Africans trying to flee the corona malaise board full boats with unreliable engines. Last year, hundreds of migrants died trying to reach the Spanish islands. Dozens of victims have already fallen this year.