More than 80 people, including a baby, are feared dead after a small boat was found adrift south of Gran Canaria in Spain's Canary Islands09:18, 03 Sep 2026Updated 00:25, 04 Sep 2026More than 80 people, including a baby, are feared to have died while attempting to reach Spain's Canary Islands by sea.‌A boat carrying 127 people was rescued in the early hours of Thursday after being found adrift around 65 nautical miles south-west of Gran Canaria's coastal town of Arguineguín, according to Spanish news agency EFE. Only 44 survivors and five bodies were found on board.‌The Civil Guard has confirmed to Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras that inscriptions on the boat's hull match those of a vessel that left The Gambia in West Africa on August 7 carrying 127 people, including four women and a baby.‌One of Spain's Maritime Rescue aircraft located the vessel adrift at about 6.40pm local time on Wednesday. The Guardamar Urania search and rescue vessel reached the boat at around 11.05pm and rescued the 44 survivors.Poor sea conditions prevented rescuers from recovering the five bodies from the boat.‌After being brought ashore at the port of Arguineguín, survivors told the Red Cross that they had set off for the Canary Islands with "more than one hundred people".It comes after at least 100 people died during a mass crossing from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, on the North African coast, involving around 72,000 migrants on July 30 and 31, according to figures cited by Ceuta mayor Juan Jesús Vivas.In 2025, 3,090 people, including 437 children, died or went missing at sea while trying to reach Spain, according to Caminando Fronteras.‌Between January 1 and August 15 this year, 14,411 people reached Spain by sea, with 4,808 arriving in the Canary Islands, according to official data cited by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.More than a quarter of those who reached the Canaries this year via the West African Atlantic route were from Senegal, while around one in five were from The Gambia, according to data by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.Official figures cited by UNHCR show that irregular migration to the European Union - notably via Mediterranean sea routes - has plummeted since its peak during the 2015 refugee crisis.‌In Greece, arrivals by sea have fallen from 856,723 in 2015 to 41,696 in 2025 - a 95 per cent drop.In Italy, sea arrivals have fallen from 153,842 in 2015 to 66,316 in 2025 - a 57 per cent decrease.In Spain, the number of people arriving by sea via the Western Mediterranean route fell from its peak of 57,264 in 2018 to 17,993 in 2025 - a 69 per cent decrease.Article continues belowArrivals in Spain via the West African Atlantic route peaked at 46,843 in 2024 before falling to 17,788 in 2025 - a 62 per cent decrease.