Atlantic Ocean
Spanish rescue forces are searching for nearly 200 migrants
On Monday, Spanish rescuers said they were searching the Atlantic Ocean for “around 200” migrants who had gone missing after being thrown off a boat off Senegal.
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(Illustrative image.)
AFP
Spanish sea rescue service Salvamento Maritimo said on its Twitter account that a plane had been dispatched outside the Canary Islands to search for “a boat that left Senegal with about 200 people on board”. Spanish rescuers also indicated they alerted merchant ships in the area, but “they did not tell us they saw a boat,” according to a spokesman.
“There is still time to save their lives”
According to the NGO Caminando Fronteras, it gets its information through calls Immigrants or their relatives, the boat left the Senegalese city of Kafontein on June 27. “The family informed us that the boat was missing and they had not heard from it for several days,” Helena Maleno, founder of the NGO, said in an audio message.
According to NGOs, two other boats from Senegal have also gone missing, with a total of 120 people on board. “There is still time to save their lives (…). Even if they have been in the water for several days, the wooden boats can withstand it,” says Helena Maleno.
(AFP)