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Rescued woman after the helicopter transport to the Canary Islands
Photo: Ángel Medina G. / EPA
Dozens of migrants may have died in a boat accident off the Canary Islands.
The Spanish Coast Guard rescued a woman on Thursday who was floating in the sea next to the lifeless bodies of two other people on an overturned rubber dinghy.
A spokesman for the coast guard told the AFP news agency that the woman had spoken of around 40 travel companions who were likely dead.
She was reportedly in "poor condition" and was found by a cargo ship off the coast.
In very bad weather conditions, the 30-year-old was taken out of the water by helicopter and taken to a hospital in Gran Canaria.
In the Canary Islands, which are about a hundred kilometers off the north-west coast of Africa in the Atlantic, the number of incoming migrants has risen sharply since the end of 2019, which is mainly attributed to increased controls in the Mediterranean.
The crossing from Morocco is extremely dangerous because there are strong currents.
In the first seven months of this year, 7,531 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, more than twice as many as in the same period last year.
In 2020, most arrivals since the migration crisis in 2006 were recorded.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 1,850 migrants died on the sea route to the Canary Islands last year or have been missing since their attempted crossing.
mjm / AFP