At least seven more people died on board the inflatable boat rescued last morning about 37 kilometers east of Lanzarote during the three days they spent at sea, according to survivors who have insisted this to the paramedics who have treated them upon disembarking in Arrecife.
According to sources from the emergency services informed EFE, the occupants of the zodiac assure that not only has the man who was found already dead on board died, embraced to another companion, by the crew of the Salvamar Al Nair, but more people who were thrown into the ocean as they perished.
Among them, there could be at least one child, because one of the survivors lamented on the dock that she had fallen asleep the last night and that her son, who was with her, was no longer on board when she woke up, before the rescue occurred.
The same sources have specified that the assistance has been very hard, due to the state of mind and weakness presented by the 42 people who arrived alive on land.
When the Salvamento boat found them, around 3.40 am, there were 43 people in the zodiac: 31 men, ten women and a little girl, in addition to the male who was weaker and whom the sailors of the Al Nair could not revive.
From the Arrecife dock, the health services directly referred nine of them to the José Molina Orosa hospital, two in serious condition. Almost all had hypothermia.
As in the rest of Spain, temperatures have dropped significantly in the Canary Islands in the last week and on many islands there is an intense feeling of cold, which is intensified at sea by the wind and humidity.
At Lanzarote airport, the Aemet station on land closest to the rescue point, temperatures dropped this morning (2.00 am) to 12 degrees.
Caminando Fronteras, the NGO that usually transfers to the Spanish authorities the notices of departure of boats facilitated by families, assures that it is not aware that there was at this time in the sea an inflatable boat with that number of occupants (43 people).
However, it is pending the appearance of several boats with 50 or more occupants who left in recent days from Tan Tan (Morocco), a town at a sailing distance from Lanzarote compatible with the three days reported by the survivors (220 kilometers, in a straight line). EFE
Another 7 people died in three days of crossing, according to the survivors of the boat that capsized near Lanzarote
They were thrown into the ocean as they perished along the way. One of them could be at least one child
February 8 2023 (17:07 WET)
Updated in
February 8 2023 (18:48 WET)
