Negligence may have led to 36 migrant deaths in Canary Islands, lawsuit alleges

Each year thousands of migrants make the journey from Western Africa to the Canary Islands

Negligence may have led to the deaths of migrants whose boat sank after waiting 10 hours for help off the Canary Islands, a lawsuit has alleged.

Prosecutors in Gran Canaria say crimes including failure to provide assistance may have been committed.

Thirty-six people drowned while attempting to reach the islands in an inflatable boat in June.

Several recent incidents have put Europe's response to migration under fresh scrutiny.

Spanish rescue officials were forced to defend their lack of action after it was reported that a Spanish search and rescue ship was only about an hour away from the dinghy.

The ship did not help them because the rescue operation had been taken over by Moroccan officials, Reuters news agency reported at the time.

A patrol boat was despatched, but it arrived 10 hours after the migrants' dinghy was first spotted by a Spanish rescue plane.

Their boat sank about 100 miles (160km) south-east of Gran Canaria island on June 21, and 24 survivors were picked up by the Moroccan boat.

Spain's coastal rescue service said the sinking happened in waters monitored by both Spain and Morocco, and that they did not know the vessel's occupants were in danger, Spanish news agency EFE reported.

• Spain rescues 86 during search for migrant boat

• 'Instead of saving us they sank the boat'

The Canary Islands are part of Spain, although they are situated off Africa's western coast. Many migrants travel from Africa to the archipelago in the hope of reaching mainland Europe.

The Western Africa-Atlantic route is considered one of the world's deadliest migration passages, and at least 543 migrants died or went missing on that journey in 2022, according to the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

The incident comes as Europe's response to migration is being held under increased scrutiny following the sinking of a migrant boat off the coast of Greece in June.

Greece's coastguard came under fire for their handling of the tragedy, after the BBC obtained evidence casting doubt on their version of events.

The UN has called for an investigation into Greece's handling of the disaster, amid claims more action should have been taken earlier to initiate a full-scale rescue attempt.

Earlier this week, 86 people were rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the coast of the Canary Islands. There are also more than 300 people still missing at sea on three boats, after setting off from Senegal two weeks ago.