Madrid [Spain], July 11: Three refugee boats with some 300 people on board went missing in the sea between Africa and Spain's Canary Islands.
The Spanish rescue service told dpa a boat has been sighted during the ongoing search after a search plane was covering an area of 140 km south of the group of islands.
"We do not yet know for sure if it is one of the missing boats. But the size and number of people on board is consistent with the information we have," a Sea Rescue spokeswoman said. A sea rescue cruiser and another ship are on their way to the boat as the rescue cruisers are only sent out once something is located. It will take the rescue ships about three hours to reach the location of the boat.
In addition, all ships in the sea area in question had been alerted days ago to keep a lookout for the migrants. The Spanish police also informed the Moroccan authorities, but the spokeswoman could not say whether they had also launched a search operation.
Two boats, each with up to 60 people on board, left Senegal on June 23 for the Canary Islands, and a third with about 200 people left the coastal town of Kafountine on June 27, Helena Maleno of the Spanish aid organization CaminandoFronteras said on Monday.
The organisation was in contact with the relatives of the missing people, who had not heard from the people on board. Maleno told dpa: "We are very worried because after the unrest in Senegal in June and because of political persecution, people are even less prepared than usual to flee in a hurry." In June, 19 boats with refugees from Senegal arrived on the Canary Islands, while not one had been registered since the beginning of the year.
Maleno criticized Spain for only using one search plane, which was only in the air for a few hours per day. There is also a lack in cooperation with Morocco: "Which only works to ward off refugees but not to rescue them," she complained.
Source: Qatar Tribune