Madrid: At least nine people have died and 48 went missing after an illegal migrant boat capsized off the island of El Hierro, Spain’s maritime rescue service confirmed on Saturday.
Another 27 people were rescued, according to the maritime rescue’s X account.
The rescue is still going on with several vessels and a helicopter searching for the missing.
All the occupants on the boat were men, and one of the recovered bodies was that of a teenager aged between 12 and 15, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the Spanish public TV network RTVE.
A total of three migrant boats arrived near the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands on Friday night, including the one that overturned. A fourth boat is still being searched for, as rescue teams haven’t located it yet.
The two boats that arrived at El Hierro around midnight Friday carried a total of 151 people, including six children and four babies.
Ten people from the three boats were sent to the port of La Restinga in the southern tip of El Hierro for medical care.
Also on Friday night, a boat carrying 57 people was rescued near Lanzarote, another island in the Canary Islands. Enditem.
–IANS