Spain announced on Friday that it has opened an investigation into reports of casualties among a group of migrants attempting to reach the Canary Islands from Africa. This follows charity organization statements from survivors claiming that Moroccan soldiers opened fire on the migrants, resulting in at least one death.
An official from the Spanish police confirmed to Reuters, "We have initiated an investigation," referring to the reported injuries. Moroccan authorities have not yet responded to requests for comments sent by Reuters via email and phone regarding allegations that their forces shot at a group of over 40 migrants as they attempted to leave on a boat early Tuesday morning.
In a tweet, the charity organization "Walking Borders," which documents cases of missing migrants at sea, shared an account from the incident site where unnamed survivors indicated that one migrant was killed. Helena Maleno, the head of the charity, reported that survivors who remained in Morocco told her over the phone that soldiers from a migration control patrol fired up to four shots at the boat as it launched, killing a young man from Mali after he was shot in the neck.
Canary Islands officials stated that following the incident, the group was able to depart and was rescued approximately 19 kilometers south of Gran Canaria at 9 PM on Thursday, in a rescue operation involving Spanish helicopters and boats. Officials noted that the migrants reported to rescuers that they had sailed from Boujdour in Western Sahara, which is controlled by Morocco, about 200 nautical miles south of the Canary Islands.
A spokesperson for the Spanish government in the Canary Islands mentioned that there were no gunshot injuries among the 32 men, nine women, and one girl, adding that three of them needed medical attention, including a pregnant woman. However, a police source later told Reuters that one of the three migrants receiving treatment in the Canary Islands had been shot and sustained other injuries, and the police are gathering evidence for the investigation.
Tiema Santana, the immigration advisor for the Canary Islands government, informed Reuters that the migrants told rescuers that two people were shot dead by fire from a "migration control checkpoint" before leaving Morocco. José Antonio Rodríguez Verona, head of the emergency team from the Red Cross in the Canary Islands, stated that the exact details of what happened remain unclear, and the migrants who arrived in the Canary Islands did not specify who shot at them. He added in an interview with Reuters: "The migrants told us that two people died during the crossing and that their bodies were thrown into the sea."
