A boat with 89 irregular migrants on board, one of them deceased, arrived at the port of Los Cristianos this morning (Sunday), escorted by Marítime Rescue, according to sources from emergency services.
The Maritime Rescue Control Centre in Tenerife received a notice from the Guardia Civil just before 7 o’clock this morning reporting a suspicious echo approximately seven miles southeast of the Punta Rasca lighthouse off the south coast of Tenerife.
The Control Centre mobilized the 'Alpheratz' rescue boat, which it sent to the area, and at the same time contacted the ships in the area in case they had spotted any vessels.
Finally, Maritime Rescue received a notice from a fishing boat saying that they had seen the cayuco with a lot of people onboard near the location that the rescue boat was heading to.
At around 08.15am, the 'Alpheratz' spotted it and verified that it was sailing without problems, so proceeded to escort it to the port of Los Cristianos, in Arona, rather than take passengers on board.
Just after 10.00am, the occupants of the cayuco, 82 men, one of them deceased, 5 women and 2 minors, all of sub-Saharan origin, disembarked in Los Cristianos met by a health team who assessed them and then carried out health protocols, including PCR tests.
The Guardia Civil guarded the dead body until coroners arrived to take it for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, which is expected to be hypothermia.
