Girl, 5, Dies During Migrant Rescue Mission

A five-year-old girl has died after she was rescued from a migrant boat drifting in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

The boat was carrying 36 African passengers towards Spain’s Canary Islands, an important entry point for migrants seeking to flee their countries’ unrest and poverty in the hopes of creating a new life in Europe.

The boat had been travelling for 17 days when a merchant ship bound for Santa Cruz de Tenerife found it adrift on Tuesday evening, 29 June. One passenger was already dead prior to the discovery.

According to the Spanish authorities, three passengers – two adults and the young girl – were airlifted in a helicopter due to the severity of their conditions. They were en-route to a hospital when the girl passed away.

Conflicting reports attribute the cause of death to either cardiac arrest or respiratory failure.

At least 178 migrants have died so far this year trying to reach the Spanish archipelago, according to statistics from the United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration.

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