More than 80 people have died after spending 27 days at sea aboard a cayuco that departed from Gambia heading to the Canary Islands. The vessel was located this Wednesday south of Gran Canaria and rescued during the early morning by Salvamento Marítimo, with 44 survivors on board, as reported by Cadena SER.
Among the deceased was a baby, according to the information available after the rescue. The survivors explained during their assistance at the port of Arguineguín that they had started the journey with more than a hundred people and that many died during the trip.
The cayuco was located by the plane Sasemar 101 around 19:40 on Wednesday, when it was south of the islands. The rescue operation was subsequently initiated with the Salvamar Urania, which reached the vessel around 00:05. The sea conditions complicated the operation. The Salvamento Marítimo teams could not recover all the bodies that remained on the cayuco and five corpses had to remain on board. (Cadena SER)
44 survivors arrive in Gran Canaria
The 44 survivors were transferred to Gran Canaria and arrived at the port of Arguineguín at 5:20. Three people had to be evacuated by helicopter to hospital centers on the island, while the rest received assistance upon their arrival at the dock.
The vessel is believed to have left Gambia and remained nearly four weeks in the Atlantic before being located. The registrations it carried on the hull allowed it to be linked to a vessel that had departed from the African country with a large group of occupants.
The rescue once again highlights the risk of Atlantic crossings to the Canary Islands, especially when vessels remain at sea for weeks and lose the ability to maintain course or guarantee minimal conditions for their occupants. According to Caminando Fronteras, in 2025, 3,090 people died at Spanish borders "due to the lack of protection of life, on increasingly long and dangerous routes," they emphasize.