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A tragic incident involving migrants attempting to reach Spain from West Africa may have claimed the lives of up to 50 people, including 44 Pakistanis, according to the migrant rights group Walking Borders.
Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had departed from Mauritania on January 2. The boat had been carrying 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, the group, based in Madrid and Navarra, reported.
Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X that 44 of those who drowned were from Pakistan. “They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to their rescue,” she said.
The rights group noted that it had alerted authorities from all involved countries six days earlier about the missing boat.
The boat departed for Spain on January 2, according to relatives of the drowned Pakistani migrants, who claimed that human traffickers had anchored the vessel in the sea and were demanding more money from the passengers.
Alarm Phone, an NGO providing an emergency hotline for migrants lost at sea, said it had alerted Spain’s maritime rescue service on January 12. However, the service stated that it had no information about the boat.
Following the post by Walking Borders on social media, Canary Islands regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims and called for Spain and Europe to take action to prevent further tragedies. “The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa,” Clavijo said on X. “They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian crisis.”