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Spain: Immigration deaths

01 November 2004

On 28 November 2004, two sub-Saharan migrants drowned and 14 disappeared when their dinghy capsized in the sea near Antigua on the island of Fuerteventura (in the Canary islands archipelago), as 28 others were rescued by the Guardia Civil (Spain's paramilitary police force). As is becoming increasingly frequent in Spanish waters, the accident occurred during rescue operations (see Statewatch vol 14 no 5). The migrants tried to board the Zodiac (a low rubber vessel with a wooden frame and an engine) that had been lowered into the sea to take them to a patrol boat after rough waters made it impossible to carry out a standard rescue operation. The dinghy was one of two vessels that were spotted by the island's electronic alert system at around four am.

The other vessel, which carried 45 would-be migrants was shepherded by a Salvamento Marítimo (Sea Coast Rescue service) boat to a port in El Castillo where its occupants disembarked, after the crew had ruled out attempting a rescue operation at sea. A Guardia Civil maritime service officer was quoted in El País newspaper as saying that the patrol boats they use are "not appropriate to rescue people arriving in dinghies". He argued that they should be "lower, like those used by Salvamento Marítimo". He also stressed that rescue operations are "very complicated" because of the waves, the fragile vessels and the number of people in the dinghies.

El País 29.11.04.