Over 40 Pakistani migrants among dozens feared drowned en route to Spain by boat

MADRID: As many as 50 migrants attempting to reach Spain by boat from West Africa may have drowned, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.

Moroccan authorities on Wednesday rescued 36 people from a boat that had departed from Mauritania on January 2, the group based in Madrid and Navarra said, and had carried 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis.

The rights group said it had alerted authorities from all countries involved six days ago about the missing boat.

The boat left for Spain on January 2, relatives of the drowned Pakistani migrants have said. According to them, the human traffickers had anchored the boat in the sea and were demanding more money from them

Alarm Phone, an NGO that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, said it had alerted Spain's maritime rescue service on January 12.

The service said it did not have any information about the boat.

Citing the Walking Borders' post on social media platform X, the Canary Islands' regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims and urged Spain and Europe to act to prevent further tragedies.

"The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa," Clavijo said on X. "They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama."

Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said in a post on X that 44 of those who drowned were from Pakistan.

"They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them," she said.

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