50 people die in the sinking of a canoe heading to the Canary Islands, according to Caminando Fronteras

Fifty people have died after a canoe that had departed on January 2nd to the Canary Islands from Mauritania sank, among them 44 Pakistani migrants, according to the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras.

Its spokesperson, Helena Maleno, explained to EFE that her organization has just learned of the tragedy, because the Moroccan authorities managed to rescue 36 survivors of that canoe this Wednesday, January 15th.

The first information handled by this NGO indicates that the boat had departed with 86 occupants, although it does not rule out that there could be more, and that it had already spent thirteen days at sea.

On board were a minimum of three women, including a teenager who has survived.

The Spanish Maritime Rescue service has no information about this shipwreck, because its resources have not intervened in the rescue of the survivors, which was carried out by Morocco.

The occupants of the wrecked canoe were mostly Asian (66 Pakistanis, out of a total of 86), Maleno details.

For months, the Spanish police authorities have noted that more and more migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and Bangladesh are risking their lives on the Canary Route, almost always in canoes that set sail from Mauritania.

The matter is under investigation, because people of that nationality (and those of Somalia, who are also beginning to appear on the Canary Route) mostly tried until now to enter Europe through the Mediterranean or through the Balkan route.