5 Migrants Die Trying to Reach Canary Islands

Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
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5 Migrants Die Trying to Reach Canary Islands

Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
Migrants rescued in the Atlantic Ocean disembark from a Spanish coast guard vessel in the port of Arguineguin on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, May 17, 2020. REUTERS/Borja Suarez

Five African migrants have died trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands by boat, officials said Friday, two days after another vessel was spotted near the archipelago with 15 dead migrants on board.

A Spanish air force patrol plane detected the boat about 110 miles (180 kilometers) southeast of the island of Gran Canaria and alerted Spain's maritime rescue service which intercepted the vessel, a spokeswoman for the service said.

Rescuers found 12 people on board, several of them in poor health, and four bodies, AFP quoted her as saying.

Two of the migrants were evacuated by helicopter to a health center in Gran Canaria, where one of them later died.

Spain's maritime rescue service discovered a boat near the island on Wednesday with 15 dead migrants on board.

At the beginning of the month at least 27 migrants who were trying to reach the Canaries died when their vessel failed off the coast of Mauritania.

Illegal migration to the islands, in the Atlantic Ocean west of Morocco, has risen over six-fold this year to 3,448 people as of August 16, despite a 26.6 percent drop in overall seaborne arrivals to Spain, according to interior ministry data.

Migrant rights groups say heightened security across the Mediterranean is likely driving more migrants to risk the perilous Atlantic crossing.

A total of 239 migrants have died trying to reach the Canaries between January 1 and August 19, compared to 210 during all of last year, and just 43 in 2018, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).



Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organizations warned Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.

"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."

"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."

Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.