More than 80 migrants, including a baby, are feared to have died after a boat that had been adrift in the Atlantic Ocean for 27 days was found off the Canary Islands. Spanish Maritime Rescue teams located the vessel roughly 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria on Wednesday, recovering 44 survivors and finding five bodies aboard, though poor weather prevented the bodies being retrieved. The tragedy underscores the extreme danger of the Atlantic migration route from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands, one of the deadliest crossings in the world.

The boat is believed to have set off from The Gambia in early August carrying 127 people. Helena Maleno Garzón, founder of the charity Caminando Fronteras, said 83 people had died, though Maritime Rescue said it could not verify the original number on board. The 44 survivors, all men from sub-Saharan Africa, were brought ashore in Gran Canaria, with three airlifted to hospital in critical condition. Fernando Clavijo, head of the Canary Islands government, said it was "intolerable that lives continue to be lost" and that the Atlantic "continues to be a death trap".