2023 Canary Islands migrant boat disaster

Last updated

2023 Canary Islands migrant boat disaster
Date21 June 2023 (2023-06-21)
Location Canary Islands, Spain
Type Maritime disaster
Deaths35–39

On 21 June 2023, a rubber dinghy carrying migrants sank off the coast of the Canary Islands in Spain. Between 35 and 39 people were killed.

Contents

Background

In recent years, widespread conflict and instability, border closures relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased controls in North African countries have birthed an industry of smuggling migrants into Europe. Spain has seen an influx of migrants as part of this broader surge into Europe. Though some opt to head to the country via the Mediterranean, the Canaries have become the primary destination for migrants fleeing to Spain, with nearly 6,000 people disembarking in the Canaries from the start of 2023 to 15 June. Statistics from the United Nations demonstrate that a little under 30,000 people arrived in Spain via sea in 2022 and close to 42,000 in 2021. [1] The early summer is peak season for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. [2]

With the surge in traffic, the route towards the Canaries have seen an increase in dangerous and fatal incidents. The Atlantic route to the Canaries has become infamously dangerous, with hundreds dying each year. [3] According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), of the 2,556 people who died attempting to reach Europe in 2022, 1,126 were traversing across the Atlantic route to Spain from West Africa. [4] Earlier in the week that the dinghy sunk, [2] a pregnant woman had died aboard a dinghy while attempting to reach Spain. She was aboard a ship near the island of Lanzarote. [5] Additionally, on 19 June, a trawler detected a migrant boat near Mogán, Gran Canaria, carrying 53 passengers that were in poor health. [2]

Incident

Approximately 60 people were aboard the vessel. [1] On the evening of 20 June, the Maritime Safety and Rescue Society (SASEMAR) received a call from the dinghy. A plane departing from the Canaries detected the vessel 70 kilometres (43 mi) off the African coast and 160 kilometres (99 mi) south of the archipelago. A SASEMAR spokesperson stated that the crew reported no immediate signs of distress or issues on the boat. [6]

Early on 21 June, Alarm Phone, a European NGO, reported that the vessel was taking on water, adding that three passengers were deceased. The organization proceeded to call for an immediate rescue of the migrants. [2] A SASEMAR spokesperson stated that "The boat got into difficulty and sank." [1]

Victims

By 22 June, there were statements that either 35 (according to Alarm Phone) or 39 people (according to a spokesperson from Caminando Fronteras / Walking Borders  [ es ]), including a minor, [7] had died in the incident. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capsizing</span> Action where a vessel turns on to its side or is upside down

Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel from a capsize is called righting. Capsize may result from broaching, knockdown, loss of stability due to cargo shifting or flooding, or in high speed boats, from turning too fast.

Protector-class coastal patrol boat

The Protector-class coastal patrol boats are a class of coastal patrol boats of the Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta. They are 87-foot (27 m) patrol boats based on the Stan 2600 patrol vessel design from the Netherlands shipbuilding firm Damen Group. The Hong Kong Police were the first organization to order vessels based on this design. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has 73 patrol boats from this class, where they are known as the Marine Protector class. Malta ordered two vessels, and they were built by Bollinger Shipyards to the USCG specifications under the US$13 Million grant from the United States provided by the United States Securities Act of 2000. They were given pennant numbers P51 and P52. In 2013, both patrol boats were upgraded with new equipment including infrared cameras and a rigid hull inflatable boat. The upgrade cost €1.7 million and was co-funded by the European Union’s External Fund.

<i>P21</i>-class patrol vessel

The P21 class is a class of inshore patrol vessels of the Armed Forces of Malta's Maritime Squadron. They are alternatively known as the Austal class after their builder.

On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was reported that the boat had sailed from Misrata, Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghana. An emergency response involving the Italian Coast Guard resulted in the rescue of 155 survivors. On 12 October it was reported that the confirmed death toll after searching the boat was 359, but that further bodies were still missing; a figure of "more than 360" deaths was later reported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Malta migrant shipwreck</span> Ship that sank off the coast of Malta, killing around 500

In September 2014, it was announced by the International Organization for Migration that a ship sank off the Malta coast on September 11, 2014, killing around 500 migrants. There were eleven survivors. The ship left Damietta, Egypt, on September 6 and sank five days later on September 11. Two Palestinian survivors of the wreck accuse the traffickers of intentionally sinking the vessel after the refugees would not agree to transfer to a different ship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of the 2015 European migrant crisis</span>

This is a timeline of the European migrant crisis of 2015 and 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Libya migrant shipwrecks</span>

2018 Libya migrant shipwrecks began on January 9, 2018, when up to 100 migrants went missing as their migrant rubber boat was punctured and sank off Libya's coast.

An increasing number of refugees and migrants have been entering the United Kingdom illegally by crossing the English Channel in the last decades. The Strait of Dover section between Dover in England and Calais in France represents the shortest sea crossing, and is a long-established shipping route. The shortest distance across the strait, at approximately 20 miles, is from the South Foreland, northeast of Dover in the English county of Kent, to Cap Gris Nez, a cape near to Calais in the French département of Pas-de-Calais.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barca Nostra</span> Art project by Christoph Büchel at the 2019 Venice Biennale

Barca Nostra was a project by Swiss–Icelandic artist Christoph Büchel that displayed at the 2019 Venice Biennale the wreckage of a fishing boat that had sunk with hundreds of migrants aboard. It was among the art world's top stories of the year.

Alan Kurdi, named after the drowned Syrian child of Kurdish origin, Alan Kurdi, is a ship which has been used since 2018 by the humanitarian organization Sea-Eye - under the German flag - and latterly the Italian humanitarian NGO, 'ResQ - People Saving People' for the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Before this, she was an oceanographic vessel operated by the Land of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, named Professor Albrecht Penck.

On 26 February 2023, a boat carrying migrants sank amidst harsh weather conditions while trying to land on the coast of Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort village near the town of Crotone in the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. The boat was carrying about 200 migrants when it sank, of whom at least 94 died, including at least 35 children. Eighty-one people survived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Messenia migrant boat disaster</span> Sinking in the Ionian Sea off the Greek coast

On 14 June 2023, an Italy-bound rusty, aging, overloaded fishing trawler smuggling migrants sank in international waters in the part of the Mediterranean known as the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Pylos, Messenia, Greece. The boat, named Adriana, which had a capacity of 400 people carried an estimated 400 to 750 migrants, mostly from Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and some from Afghanistan. After departing from Tobruk, Libya, on 10 June, concerns were raised by 13 June, with the vessel then located in the Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) zone assigned to Greece. The Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) helicopter and later the HCG vessel ΠΠΛΣ-920 arrived on scene, took aerial photos of the vessel, made offers of assistance that were allegedly refused, then remained there as an observer until the boat capsized and sank. After the Adriana had sunk in the "deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea", the HCG and the military initiated a massive search and rescue operation. One hundred and four men were rescued, and 82 bodies were recovered. By 18 June, officials had acknowledged that over 500 people were "presumed dead."

Up to 63 migrants are believed to have died in an incident off Cape Verde involving a pirogue which had voyaged from Senegal departing on 10 July. 38 persons from the boat were rescued on 14 August 2023 and taken to the island of Sal, Cape Verde.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Jones, Sam (21 June 2023). "At least 35 people feared dead after dinghy sinks en route to Canary Islands". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "More than 30 feared dead as dinghy bound for Spain's Canary Islands sinks - migrant groups". Reuters. 21 June 2023. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  3. Jones, Sam (8 August 2021). "'I'd never seen a boat come in with so many bodies': the mortal cost of the Atlantic migrant route". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  4. "Dozens of people drown after dinghy sinks near Canary Islands". www.aljazeera.com. 21 June 2023. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  5. "Body of pregnant woman found on migrant dinghy en route to Spain's Canary islands". Reuters. 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  6. "Two found dead off Moroccan coast after rubber dinghy carrying dozens of migrants sinks". AP NEWS. 21 June 2023. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  7. "Hundreds of migrants rescued off canary islands". BBC. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  8. "At least 30 migrants feared dead in Canary Islands disaster". www.bbc.com. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.