TRAGEDY AT SEA: four babies and three adults die in a boat trying to get to the Canaries

At least four babies, a man, and two women have died during the crossing of a patera that left Dakhla on October 24^th heading for the Canary Islands, which had enough food and water for three days but spent ten lost at sea after it ran out of fuel and provisions for the crossing due to bad sea conditions.

Statements made to the Police by the survivors of the boat, after being rescued 200 kilometres from Gran Canaria on Tuesday, are shedding light on the scenes that were seen on the Arguineguín pier, when the 44 men, women and children that survived were exhausted, without the strength to even stand up.

During the rescue a Maritime helicopter had urgently evacuated eight people in the most serious condition, a man, a woman, two babies and four children, one of whom died before reaching land unable to receive medical help in time.

The accounts of the occupants of the boat do not fully clarify how many people left Dakhla in it because no one has been able to specify exactly how many died at sea. But they do agree on one thing: more than seven people perished on the journey, in the days that followed when they ran out of fuel, food and water, and were lost in the Atlantic drinking urine and seawater to survive.

According to their statements, they ran out of supplies on the fourth day of navigation in the midst of very bad sea conditions, with strong waves that filled the boat with water that the occupants battled to bale out before filling up again.

The first to die was a man who fell overboard, two witnesses said that others tried to help him get back on board, but it was useless due to the sea conditions.

After this, women and children began to die, particularly the smallest ones, who were still babies. The survivors have given details of the horror they felt when they saw one of the men tear the little ones from their mothers' arms to throw them into the sea because all four had been dead for at least a day.

Survivors have also said that the nightmare began before they got on the boat, as they were held in huts since October 14^th on the Saharan coast waiting for the right time to embark for the Canary Islands.

The organizers of the patera allegedly charged them amounts ranging between 1,500 euros (one million CFA francs, paid by one of the survivors) and 1,800 euros (amount cited by another).