The total number of fatalities rescued from the cayuco that arrived towed on Wednesday night at the port of Los Cristianos is 24, of which 22 are adults and 2 are minors, all males of sub-Saharan origin, according to the Canary Islands Government Delegation.
The cayuco, which initially was said to have at least 17 fatalities, reached land after being towed by the guardamar Talía. A large device consisting of the National Police, Civil Guard, Red Cross, members of Frontex and firefighters was deployed in the port, who will be in charge of disembarking the bodies.
Around 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, the guardamar arrived at the place where the cayuco was located, about 275 miles from the island of El Hierro, which had been accompanied since last Monday by a merchant ship that was in the area to prevent it from getting lost. Once with the boat in tow, the guardamar set course for Los Cristianos.
The cayuco was found on Monday morning by a Search and Rescue (SAR) plane of the Air Force that was carrying out some maneuvers, so the Maritime Rescue Control Center in Tenerife immediately mobilized the guardamar Talía, to go to the area, in addition to a SAR helicopter.
A ladder truck from the fire department hoisted the corpses one by one, which were placed in a shroud that was installed on the site so that the forensic doctors could carry out the first judicial procedures. Also, there were up to five hearses in the port in charge of transferring the bodies to the Anatomical Forensic Institute to perform the autopsy.
The arrival of the cayuco to the port of Los Cristianos marks the end of a tragic journey of more than twenty days in which only three people, two men and one woman, managed to survive. After being rescued by the SAR helicopter, they were evacuated to Tenerife, where they are hospitalized.
