At least 3 dead, 7 missing as migrant boat capsizes in southern Spain

MADRID (Reuters) – At least three people have died and seven are missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of southern Spain, officials said. The country’s marine rescue service gave this information on Friday.

The service said another ship had issued an alert at 8 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) after spotting the semi-submerged black boat 26 nautical miles (48 km) south of Cape Sacratif in the town of Motril.

Rescuers found five passengers on the boat, three of whom were dead. The two survivors were airlifted to hospital by helicopter and were in critical condition, suffering from hypothermia.

Survivors told rescue workers that there were 12 people on board when the boat left Algeria six days ago, prompting a search operation to find the seven missing. The service said the date and place of his disappearance were unclear.

It said an airplane from the European border agency Frontex was assisting in search and rescue efforts, which were being hampered by waves up to 3 meters (9.8 ft) high caused by strong winds.

The number of migrants arriving in Spain by boat in the first two and a half months of this year quadrupled to 15,148 from the same period a year earlier, Interior Ministry data showed.

Rights group Walking Borders said 6,618 people could have lost their lives during the perilous sea journeys trying to reach Spain by 2023.

(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Emma Pinedo)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters,