Rabat – Human rights NGO Caminando Fronteras on Sunday reported that forty-four people have drowned to death in a shipwreck in the south of Cape Bojador.
According to the latest reports, Moroccan authorities have recovered sixteen bodies that were transferred to the morgue.
The shipwreck’s survivors, twelve individuals, were detained by Moroccan authorities, tweeted journalist and human rights defender Helena Maleno Garzón.
“We provided the authorities with the position of the boat and its call for help, but the rescue took four fateful hours … Rest in peace. Our deepest condolences to the families, hopefully, one day they will find justice and reparation,” she added.
It remains unclear what the boat’s destination was but the incident is widely associated with a migration attempt to reach Spain’s Canary Islands.
Bojador-Canary Islands are one of the main irregular migration routes connecting Morocco to Spain, along with other access points such as Melilla and Ceuta.
Read Also: Morocco Reiterates Commitment to Humanitarian Approach to Migration
On Friday, Morocco and Spain reiterated their commitment to consolidating dialogue and close coordination with respect to regional cooperation on migration.
Spanish officials also commended Morocco’s “far-reaching efforts” to address irregular migration, underlining the country’s “tangible results.”
Rabat and Madrid further stressed “particular importance to the increased possibilities of financial support for Morocco in the new multi-annual financial framework of the European Union.”
In 2021, the European Union had the “second-largest cooperation portfolio on migration with Morocco, with a total of €343 million, of which €238 million is taken from the North Africa window of the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF),” according to the Council of European Union.
With the EU maintaining good cooperation with Morocco and promoting employment in places of migration through EUTF, migration flows to Spanish territories and the Union remain significant.
Yearly, thousands of Moroccans and sub-Saharan irregular migrants cross to Spain by land and sea through Ceuta and Melilla.
Read Also: Spain to Return ‘Significant’ Number of Irregular Migrants to Morocco
