More than 700 migrants rescued off Spain’s Canary Islands

More than 700 migrants traveling on four different boats were rescued near the shores of Spain’s Canary Islands, Spanish officials said Saturday.

Some 247 people were aboard one boat, 238 on another, and 254 on the other two, according to a post on “X,” formerly Twitter, by the Canary Islands’ official emergency services account on Saturday.

Of those aboard, two people were dead when found and two others died in a hospital, while 12 others are being treated in hospitals, officials said.

On Thursday, Spain’s Interior Ministry said that 30,075 migrants had arrived to the Canary Islands by water from January 1 to October 31, more than double the number who arrived over the same period in 2022.

The Canaries archipelago lies off Morocco’s west coast.

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