According to survivors, the bodies were thrown overboard during the crossing. The boat arrived on the Canary Island of El Hierro on Sunday with 48 people on board, the Spanish police said on Thursday.
Three boatmen arrested
The water supplies on the boat ran out within a few days, the police statement said. Some of the inmates then drank salt water to quench their thirst. The boatmen are also said to have beaten and tied up a man. The three suspected boatmen were arrested.
More than 5,500 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands between January 1 and March 15, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry. That is almost twice as many as in the same period last year.
74 people rescued from distress at sea
The rescue ship “Sea-Eye 4” rescued 74 people, including 22 children, in distress on the Mediterranean Sea on Wednesday. The migrants and refugees came from Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan and Syria, the German aid organization Sea-Eye announced on Thursday. After another rescue operation on Tuesday, there were now a total of 106 rescued on board the ship.
The crew is now looking for a safe place for the people and will reach Maltese waters on Friday. Another dinghy with 145 people in distress was illegally returned by the Libyan coast guard before the “Sea-Eye 4” could reach them, the aid organization reported, citing the Alarm Phone emergency call service.
Source: Nachrichten
