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🇮🇹 Italy /Disasters & Emergencies

17 migrants die adrift for 15 days on journey to Balearic Islands

From ANSA · () Italian

Translated from Italian, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Official statement Outcome reported
  • Seventeen migrants died during a 15-day journey to the Balearic Islands after their boat became adrift.
  • Two survivors were rescued by the Spanish Maritime Rescue, reporting that 17 of the 19 people on board died from dehydration and malnutrition.
  • The rescue occurred near Mallorca, and a separate operation later saved 15 other migrants off Ibiza.

Seventeen migrants perished during a perilous 15-day journey toward the Balearic Islands, their vessel adrift until rescued by Spanish authorities. Two survivors, found with severe dehydration and malnutrition, recounted the harrowing ordeal to maritime rescuers.

The boat, carrying 19 people from North Africa, drifted for two weeks. During this time, 17 individuals died before rescue services located the craft. The rescue operation took place about 12.6 miles southwest of Mallorca, where a patrol boat found the two living passengers. They were taken to Son Espases Hospital in Palma for treatment.

Following the survivors' testimony, maritime rescue deployed a helicopter to search the area for other victims and issued a navigational warning. In a separate incident early this morning, another boat carrying 15 migrants of North African origin was rescued approximately 30 miles southeast of Ibiza.

This rescue comes as European Union interior ministers convene for an extraordinary video conference. The meeting, called by the Irish presidency, addresses the ongoing migrant crisis, particularly following recent events in Ceuta. A press conference is scheduled later today with the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration.

The rescue occurred around 3 this morning, when a patrol boat spotted a small boat with only two living people on board.

— Spanish authoritiesReporting on the discovery of the migrant boat.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ANSA in Italian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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