Toddler Among 14 Migrants Hospitalized After Canaries Boat Rescue

More dramatic scenes off the Canary Islands as dozens of migrants were rescued from a sinking boat near the Spanish archipelago.

Rescue workers had to deal with over a dozen suffering from from hypothermia and who later required hospitalization when the migrants were brought ashore.

A Spanish military aircraft also spotted a second boat carrying migrants south of Gran Canaria.

A 2-year-old girl is reported to be in critical condition and three women in serious condition were among fourteen people including nine children who were hospitalized, the island’s health department said.

A total of 52 sub-Saharan Africans including 29 women and nine children were found onboard the vessel seven nautical miles off the  island of Gran Canaria on Tuesday, March 16th and were brought to the port of Arguineguin, according to a statement released by the Spanish  Maritime Rescue Service.

On arrival to the port, Red Cross medical teams had to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitating  on the baby girl  said a spokeswoman for the organisation.

The Spanish archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean is a major route for West African and North African migrants and asylum-seekers trying to reach Europe.

Since the beginning of 2021 around 2,600 people have survived the dangerous Atlantic crossing and reached the Canaries.

In 2020, the total was about 23,000 people of whom 849 were reported dead or missing according to the U.N.’s migration agency “Missing Migrants Project.”

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