At least 80 feared dead after migrant boat found off Canary Islands

At least 80 people are feared dead after a boat that had been adrift for 26 days was discovered off Spain’s Canary Islands, an NGO has said.

Four women and a baby are feared to be among those who died on a small boat that departed Gambia on 7 August, and was discovered following an alert raised by Spanish NGO Caminendo Fronteras, the organisation told The Independent.

Spain’s news agency EFE Noticias initially reported on X that 80 migrants had been found dead on the boat. It was afterwards reported that 45 survivors and five bodies were found on board, but that it had initially been carrying 128 people, most of whom were deemed dead or missing.

The Civil Guard told Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras that the boat had likely travelled from Gambia, according to inscriptions on the vessel’s hull.

“Throughout this period, as you can imagine, numerous family members were calling in desperation, fearing the worst; ultimately, the tragedy has been confirmed,” the spokesperson for Caminendo Fronteras added. “We are talking about more than 80 victims.”

“Once again, we must question the level of cooperation between the search-and-rescue services of various countries, as well as the search resources available for these vessels that end up adrift and clearly require urgent rescue.”

Survivors on the boat, which was brought to the port of Arguineguin in Gran Canaria, reportedly told the Red Cross they had left for the Canary Islands with more than 100 people on board.

It comes one day after the Moroccan navy intercepted 201 migrants attempting to reach Spain’s Canary Islands after departing from Western Sahara. The boat was intercepted 185 kilometres (115 miles) southwest of Dakhla, according to the Moroccan general staff, EFE.

According to The Times, maritime rescue said the vessels was first spotted on Wednesday afternoon. Spanish search and rescue vessel the Guardamar Urania provided help at midnight, it said.

All the survivors are reportedly from Gambia and Mali, the outlet added.

The Independent has contacted the Maritime Rescue and Guardia Civil.

The western Africa to Canary Islands migrant route has become one of the world’s most deadly in recent years, with lives lost rising by 480 per cent between 2019 and 2025 (202 to 1,172), according to the Missing Migrants Project.

“We’re seeing that, because the counter-smuggling enforcement on a lot of the West and North African departure countries is getting stricter, people are leaving from as far south as the Gambia, an overseas journey of weeks, which is crazy when it’s often a fishing boat,” a spokesperson for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which runs the MMP, previously told The Independent.

In 2026, 349 people have died so far, according to MMP figures. This is not believed to include the 80 who have reportedly been found dead near the Canary Islands.

The route is by far the deadliest migration route from Africa, MMP figures show.