Search for 300 migrants reported missing in Atlantic shows difficulty of locating lost ships

Three boats, carrying more than 300 migrants combined, are reported to have disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean while making a long and risky 1,700-kilometre journey from the coast of Senegal to Spain's Canary Islands. 

A search and rescue operation has been underway since a Spanish migrant aid group, known in English as Walking Borders, sounded the alarm on Sunday, after families had not heard from loved ones who had departed last month for the archipelago, situated off the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara.

As desperate families hold out hope the boats will be found, the search demonstrates how difficult it is to track down missing vessels in the vast ocean with little — and sometimes conflicting — information.

The voyage, which can take several days or even weeks, is one of the deadliest in the world. At least 559 people lost their lives trying to reach the Canary Islands in 2022, according to the United Nations' International Organization for Migration (IOM). The IOM recorded 178 deaths in the first half of this year.

Walking Borders estimates that number is far higher, at 778 deaths, in the first six months of 2023.

Mixed messages on missing migrant boats

Walking Borders reported one boat, believed to have 200 passengers on board, set off on June 27 from the Senegalese fishing village of Kafountine, while two others, one with 65 people and another with 50 to 60 people, left on June 23 from the town of Mbour, near the capital, Dakar.

The Senegalese government is disputing the organization's claims that boats that set out from the country are missing, saying it carried out checks showing "that this information is completely unfounded."

The Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that 260 of its citizens were rescued in Moroccan territorial waters between June 28 and July 9, and that Senegalese and Moroccan authorities are ensuring those who were rescued were taken care of and repatriated as soon as possible.

In a statement sent to CBC News Wednesday, Walking Borders insisted the government's comments were incorrect and that the details of the rescues don't match up with the information it received about missing boats.

The aid group also said 86 people rescued from a boat spotted by a Spanish rescue plane on Monday was unlikely to be one of those it reported missing.

WATCH | Dozens of migrants brought ashore after Spanish plane spots boat:

Migrants rescued from small boat

1 year ago

Duration 0:28

Dozens of people were rescued by the Spanish Coast Guard earlier this week after a rescue plane spotted a dinghy loaded with migrants south of the island of Gran Canaria.

"The main thing is to search for these people, to protect their right to life and to provide answers to the families who are desperately calling," the organization said in its statement. "With every passing minute we are losing some precious time to find them alive." 

Searching an area the size of B.C.

If the boats are still adrift, it will be a daunting task to find them in the open ocean, said Luna Vives, an associate professor of geography at Université de Montréal who researches migration and maritime search and rescue in Europe. 

The traditional canoe-like fishing boats that are generally used to transport migrants from Senegal are "relatively safe," she said, compared to some of the dilapidated vessels or rubber dinghies used on other migration routes, like in the Mediterranean Sea or English Channel. 

She said the search and rescue zone along the migration route to the Canary Islands encompasses about one million square kilometres — an area bigger than British Columbia. It is covered by a rather small search and rescue crew from Spain's Maritime Safety and Rescue Society, also known as Salvamento Maritimo.

"We're talking about a crew of about 30 people with about five boats, two helicopters and one plane who are responsible for rescuing over 7,000 [migrants] in this area in 2023 so far," Vives said. 

"Unless you come upon one of these boats by accident, the only way to find it is if you know exactly from where and when they left, and the approximate route that the boat followed."

Vives said it's often families of the missing who alert aid groups when they don't hear from their loved ones after several days at sea. In turn, those organizations, like Walking Borders, contact rescue crews or the relevant authorities who then deploy a plane or helicopter to begin searching from the air.

Intensified scrutiny of search and rescue efforts

Search and rescue efforts for migrant boats that are in distress or go missing have been under scrutiny following the sinking of a trawler carrying up to 750 people off the coast of Greece last month. Only 104 people are confirmed to have survived the disaster, one of the deadliest migrant boat incidents on record. 

There are questions about the Greek Coast Guard's handling of the incident, as well as scrutiny of the resources dedicated to rescuing migrants at sea, compared to the international response to the missing OceanGate Titan submersible, which imploded while carrying wealthy travellers to the site of the Titanic wreckage in the North Atlantic. 

Vives said the broad response to the Titan is actually what is supposed to happen, with search and rescue resources scrambled to assist distressed vessels. But that's not the case with boats carrying migrants from poor or conflict-stricken countries.

She said some countries in Europe are shirking their international search and rescue obligations when it comes to migrant vessels. Rescues have become increasingly politicized, as countries put in place policies meant to deter migrants from arriving by irregular sea routes, and have even penalized non-government organizations attempting to carry out rescues.

Vives said Spain's Salvamento Maritimo is generally successful at saving migrants at sea, when they have the necessary information to guide them. 

She worries the situation could change now that Spain and the European Union have reached an agreement to support more involvement from Morocco and other countries in migrant search and rescue efforts.

She said Morocco, for example, does not have the same search and rescue capabilities as Spain, which could ultimately put more lives at risk. 

"It's not a combination of efforts, it's a retreat of Spain to let Morocco step in," she said. "Deaths are going to increase along this route."

This week, prosecutors in the Canary Islands filed a lawsuit alleging that negligence led to the deaths of 36 migrants last month off Gran Canaria, the largest of the islands, after a Spanish rescue vessel did not immediately assist, because Morocco had taken charge of the rescue operations.

LISTEN | How a migrant disaster off the coast of Greece could have been prevented:

As It Happens6:16'It could have been prevented,' refugee advocate says of migrant boat tragedy

At least 79 people have died and others are feared missing off the coast of southern Greece after a fishing boat carrying migrants capsized and sank. Efi Latsoudi of Refugee Support Aegean tells As It Happens host Nil Köksal that tragedies like this are completely preventable.