MADRID — The bodies of a man and a child were retrieved from waters off the western coast of Morocco and 24 people were rescued after a rubber dinghy carrying migrants sank, Spain's Maritime Rescue service said Wednesday.
A Spanish NGO, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), says more than 60 people were aboard and that more than 30 were reported missing. It accused Spanish authorities of failing to assist the migrants in time.
The NGO monitors migrant boats in the area to try to help them and receives calls from people on the boats or their relatives.
A Spanish Maritime Rescue spokesperson, who was not authorized to be named in the media, told The Associated Press that the service received a call from the boat Tuesday evening. A plane sent from Spain's Canary Islands located it some 70 kilometers (44 miles) off the northwest coast of Africa and 160 kilometers south of the islands.
The spokesperson said the plane crew reported that the boat showed no immediate signs of floating problems and that the service had no details on when or why the boat sank.
He added that Morocco assumed responsibility for the rescue operation and that a merchant ship sailing in the area had pulled up close to the dinghy following the alert sent out by Morocco. The 24 were not rescued until early Wednesday.
The child's body was found by a Spanish helicopter and the body of the man was found by the merchant ship, both on Wednesday, the spokesman said.
Helena Maleno of Caminando Fronteras posted a tweet Wednesday saying the migrants were left 12 hours without help. She said 39 people had died, including four women and a baby. It was not immediately possible to confirm these figures.
It was the second tragedy with migrant boats trying to reach Spain in two days. On Tuesday, the body of a pregnant woman was discovered on a migrant boat carrying more than 40 people near the Canary island of Lanzarote.
Thousands of migrants from northwest and sub-Saharan African countries try to reach Spain in overloaded boats each year. Many die in the attempt.
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