On Friday, the Maritime Rescue Service rescued 416 migrants aboard three small boats that had reached the coast of El Hierro; none of them required medical assistance, sources from the emergency and rescue teams told EFE.
The first cayuco was brought into port by the coastguard vessel Diphda at around 10.15 am, after being rescued some 32 miles from the island. It was carrying 205 people of sub-Saharan origin, mostly men, including 11 women and 17 minors, all of whom appeared to be in good health, according to information gathered from the health services.
According to the migrants‘ own accounts, they are said to have made a seven-day journey from Barra (Gambia).
El Hierro: Those rescued come from several West African countries
On board the vessel were people from The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Conakry, Guinea-Bissau and Ghana.
The second of the cayucos was brought into port by the rescue vessel Navia at around 11.30 am, after being rescued some 44 miles from the island, with 170 people on board, all of sub-Saharan origin and all men, who appeared to be in good health.
In this case, they would have made a 7-day journey from Saint Louis (Senegal), and the boat was carrying people from Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Mali.
Third cayuco brings a further 41 people to El Hierro
The third cayuco was brought into port by the coastguard vessel Diphda at around 12.50 pm, after being rescued some 14 miles from the island, carrying 41 people of sub-Saharan origin, the majority of whom were men.
According to the migrants‘ own account, they had also made a five-day journey from Saint Louis (Senegal), together with people from The Gambia, Senegal, The Gambia and Côte d’Ivoire.
La Restinga: Emergency services are treating all those rescued
All these people were attended to at the Port of La Restinga by the Red Cross’s Immediate Emergency Response Team (ERIE), the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC), the Port of La Restinga security service, the Guardia Civil and the National Police.
They have also been taken to the Temporary Reception Centre for Foreign Nationals (CATE) in the village of San Andrés, in Valverde, where they are being looked after by members of the NGO «Corazón naranja, Ebrima Sonko» and will remain in police custody until they are transferred to other facilities off the island.
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