7 minors among 29 dead on migrant boat to Canary Islands

By ARITZ PARRA
Associated Press

MADRID (AP) — At least 29 Africans, including seven children, died last week while trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands on a smuggling boat. That’s according to information released Monday from a U.N. agency, a Spanish migrant charity in touch with victims’ relatives. Spanish maritime services on Friday rescued 27 migrants and recovered 4 bodies in the boat spotted by a fishing vessel south of the archipelago off northwest Africa. But at least 24 more people were on the boat when it left on Aug. 15 from Dakhla, a port in the disputed Western Sahara territory. The voyage from Africa to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest routes for migrants attempting to reach Europe.