Five dead, dozens missing after migrant boat drifts near Canary Islands

At least five people are dead and dozens more are feared missing after a migrant boat was found drifting in the Atlantic Ocean near Spain's Canary Islands, authorities said Thursday.

Spain's Maritime Rescue Service said a plane spotted the "precarious" vessel on Wednesday afternoon, about 120 kilometers south of Gran Canaria. Rescue teams evacuated three survivors by helicopter to a hospital on the island, while the remaining 41 migrants were brought to shore by boat at the port of Arguineguín early Thursday.

All survivors are men, some underage, and are believed to be from Mali or Senegal, according to José Antonio Rodríguez Verona, a spokesperson for the Red Cross in the Canaries. He said the migrants were disoriented and dehydrated, with many collapsing or vomiting upon reaching land.

Survivors told aid workers that more than 100 people, including women and a baby, were originally on board when the boat left Gambia. Some estimated they had been at sea for nearly a month. As provisions ran out, people fell ill from drinking seawater. The migrants said bodies of those who died were thrown overboard as the journey wore on.

The Maritime Rescue Service said it could not retrieve the remains of the five dead found on the boat due to strong winds and waves reaching 2.5 meters high.

Separately, Helena Maleno, founder of the migrant rights group Walking Borders, reported that 83 people had died on the voyage, including three women and a baby. In a post on X, Maleno said the boat had departed Gambia 27 days ago. Her group is often contacted by relatives of missing migrants and relays distress calls to Spanish authorities.

The West African Atlantic route to the Canary Islands is considered one of the deadliest migration paths to Europe. While arrivals have declined over the past year, thousands of people have died or gone missing in recent years, with some boats drifting across the Atlantic to the Americas.