Salvamento Marítimo rescued 363 migrants, including a mother and her baby, whom she had given birth to during the crossing, with boats arriving in El Hierro, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Tenerife.
In addition to these arrivals, a state-owned vessel is currently on its way to a third rescue on the island of El Hierro, where earlier in the day two makeshift boats with 60 and 84 migrants on board had arrived, as detailed by sources from Maritime Rescue.
This third vessel is located about 20 nautical miles (around 37 kilometers) from the island of El Hierro, and the Salvamar Acrux has left the dock to assist it.
Before, two other makeshift boats arrived at the island's ports: one of them escorted by the Salvamar Acrux, carrying 60 people, including four women and a baby; and another one with 84 people rescued from another boat operated by the state-owned company, including eleven minors on board.
All of them, as indicated to the emergency teams who assisted them at the dock, are of sub-Saharan origin.
The mother, calm and in apparent good health, just like her newborn baby
During the morning, Maritime Rescue responded to another dinghy rescue, this time in waters near Lanzarote, with 60 people on board, including 14 women and possibly four minors, all of Sub-Saharan origin, who were disembarked at the Arrecife pier in the early afternoon.
On this vessel, there was a woman who had given birth during the crossing and who was calm and in apparent good health, just like her newborn.
After rescuing them from the vessel, the crew of the Talía coast guard boat consulted the Radiomedical Center about the possibility of evacuating this mother with her baby by helicopter, with this institution approving the operation.
Helimer 202 was responsible for hoisting the mother and her baby and transporting them to Arrecife airport, where a medicalized ambulance was waiting to take them to the Insular Hospital of Lanzarote.
During the early hours of the morning, two more small boats arrived on the shores of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, carrying 69 and 90 people on board, respectively.
First, it was the Salvamar Alpheratz that rescued the 69 occupants, including four possible minors, from a cayuco located about five nautical miles (9.26 kilometers) from Los Cristianos, in the south of Tenerife, where they disembarked shortly after one in the morning.
According to the healthcare teams, five of these individuals required transfer to a hospital due to various conditions.
During the day, two more cayucos arrived at El Hierro
The canoe located near Gran Canaria, with 90 migrants on board, including ten women and a possible minor, was assisted by the guardamar Urania around 03:15 hours (local time), which transported them to the dock in Arguineguín.
According to the emergency teams, two of these individuals required transfer to hospital centers for moderately severe conditions.
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has stated on his social media that today is one of those days where the rescues in the waters of the Canary Islands do not stop, to which is added a birth in the middle of the journey.
Clavijo has expressed his recognition to Maritime Rescue and all those who have intervened because, he stated, they are “the heroes of a drama that still lacks answers”.