On 2 November, the Guardamar Urania reached the inflatable at about 5.20am, roughly 150 kilometres north-east of Arrecife. It carried 132 survivors: 120 men and 12 women. Seven people died during the crossing, according to Agencia EFE; two bodies were recovered from the boat, while survivors said the other five had been thrown into the Atlantic. Authorities had not established how the seven people died or why the five bodies were discarded, and the circumstances remained under investigation.
Salvamento Marítimo reported a total of 510 people rescued from eight boats in operations described between Sunday night and Monday midday. Reuters reported that more than 380 people were rescued around the Canary Islands on Monday, including roughly 250 others from boats near Lanzarote and El Hierro. Europa Press reported that two boats rescued near Lanzarote carried a combined 191 migrants, alongside the seven reported fatalities. Four boats were assisted near Lanzarote, while four cayucos reached El Hierro. RUSSPAIN has also covered migration issues in its Ceuta report.
One cayuco located nine kilometres from La Restinga on Sunday night carried 107 people, including five women and three minors. During the night near Lanzarote, Salvamar Acrux rescued 59 Maghrebi men, 11 of them minors, about eight kilometres off the island’s northern coast.
Salvamar Al Nair assisted two more inflatables near Lanzarote. One carried 35 men, including 13 minors; the other had 36 people, all described as Maghrebi.
On El Hierro, Salvamento Marítimo accompanied three cayucos into La Restinga harbour. The first arrived at 7.45am with 90 people, including 11 women and 13 minors. Seven needed medical attention at El Hierro Hospital after a seven-day crossing from Saint Louis in Senegal.
A second boat reached shore at about 10.25am with 30 men who had left Tanji in Senegal six days earlier. The third arrived roughly an hour later with 19 men who had departed Dakar, also in Senegal, six days before. Reuters reported that arrivals in the Canary Islands had fallen 18% year on year to 11,527, although crossings increased sharply in October, adding pressure to reception and emergency services on some islands.
