A total of 237 migrants were rescued yesterday Saturday when they were sailing towards the Canary Islands aboard five boats from the African continent. They are joined this Sunday morning by another cayuco with 65 more migrants, which has arrived at the port of Los Cristianos. Most of those rescued are of North African origin and among them are women and children, according to data from Maritime Rescue and the Emergency and Security Coordination Center (Cecoes) 1-1-2.
Yesterday Saturday afternoon, a call was received from a boat through the Haría-Lanzarote repeater with no specific position. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Las Palmas mobilized the 205 helimer, the Polimnia guardmarine and alerted all the ships that were sailing in the area.
One of them, called King Arthur, reported around 9:00 p.m. that he had sighted a boat sailing one mile from his position. Helimer 205 located the boat, updated the position to the Polyhymnia guardrail and carried out a sweep in the vicinity in case there could be another one and located a second one.
At about 10:00 p.m., the Maritime Rescue vessel rescued the 48 people who were in the first boat, all North African men, 24 miles from the coast, and then headed for the position of the second. Around 11:00 p.m., the 49 people on board were rescued 12 miles from the coast: 39 men, 4 women and 8 children, all North Africans.
Already in the first minutes of today, Sunday, the guardamar Polimnia proceeded to disembark at the Arrecife pier, in Lanzarote, where they were assisted by health personnel from the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC) and volunteer personnel from the Red Cross.
Around 8:00 p.m. on Friday, the Rescue Coordination Center in Las Palmas received a notice from the Civil Guard reporting a suspicious echo, a possible boat, some 11 miles south of Gran Canaria.
Helimer 205, which was in the area carrying out a routine exercise, sighted the boat, so the Coordination Center mobilized the Macondo salvamar, which headed for the area.
After intercepting the boat at around 9:20 p.m., he proceeded to rescue the 35 people on board, all of North African origin and including five children, proceeding to transfer them to the Arguineguín dock, in the municipality of Mogán.
Once on land, the rescued migrants were assisted by health personnel from the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC) and by Red Cross volunteers. All were in good health.
Another of the boats that were rescued yesterday Saturday was being searched without interruption since Friday night by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Las Palmas until it was finally located yesterday morning 60 miles south of the island of Tenerife. .
On Friday the controllers mobilized the guardamar Calliope and alerted the ships in the area without the patera being able to be located throughout the night. At about 9:15 am on Saturday she obtained her position by telephone and she was sighted at about 11:15 am by the guardamar.
Minutes later, the Rescue unit began the approach maneuver and proceeded to rescue the 53 people on board, including women and children, all sub-Saharan. All those rescued were taken to the Arguineguín dock and seven transfers were made to a health center for different pathologies.
Regarding the other vessel, shortly before 9:00 a.m., the Rescue Center in Las Palmas received a notice from the Civil Guard informing of another possible boat some 40 miles from Arrecife. The controllers mobilized the 'Al Nair' salvamar, which at around 11:40 a.m. sighted a pneumatic boat.
Fifteen minutes later, he proceeded to rescue the 52 people on board: 47 men and 5 women, all of sub-Saharan origin. The guardamar headed towards the port of Arrecife, where the rescued received medical assistance. Finally, two transfers were made to a health center for different pathologies.
