Luxury cruise ship Insignia (IMO 9156462) rescued dozens of migrants who were trying to reach the Spanish Canary Islands in a fishing boat. The boat had stalled in rough seas, resulting in six deaths, Spanish authorities and the cruise operator said on Thursday June 20th.
The Canary Islands have become the main target point for migrants leaving West African ports and sailing north. The trip is hazardous, in that if the Canary Islands are missed the small boats can be swept on into the Atlantic, and lost. Migration rights group Walking Borders claimed last week that nearly 5,000 migrants died at sea on that route during the first five months of 2024, but the reality is that the numbers are almost impossible to establish for sure.
Bulk carrier Philipp Oldendorff (IMO 9540869) had spotted the distressed fishing boat, adrift, on Wednesday June 19th when it was about 440nm south of the island of Tenerife. It provided first assistance to the migrants, The Insignia was diverted to the area to pick up the survivors, the Spanish Coast Guard said.
The Insignia, which is owned by Miami-based Oceania Cruises (itself owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings), also managed to recover three bodies from the boat, but bad weather prevented the recovery of another two bodies. The Insignia left a locating device to facilitate the search.
The cruise ship, which has a capacity of 670 passengers, was on a 180-day round-the-world journey that began in January. It was expected to reach Tenerife at 07:00 local time on Friday.
An Oceania Cruises spokesperson said that “we can confirm that the Insignia rescued 68 people from a vessel in distress between Cape Verde and Tenerife, brought them onboard for medical assistance and provided food, drinks, clothing and a safe place to rest”.
A Spanish coast guard vessel was en route from the Canary Islands on Thursday to meet the Insignia and then locate the shipwreck.
After the Insignia reported that one of those rescued was in critical condition and needed to be medevaced, a Helimer 201 SAR helicopter was mobilized but, later, the doctor on board confirmed that the victim had died. and the helicopter returned to Tenerife South Airport, where it had left.
On June 21st at around 05:30 the cruise ship arrived at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife with the now 67 surviving rescued migrants, and the bodies of six who did not survive the journey. All of those rescued, among them 61 men, three women and three minors, were of sub-Saharan origin.
The rescued people were being cared for by a large health device made up of personnel from the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC), Primary Care and Red Cross volunteers, with the support of the National Police and the Civil Guard. Up to four tents have been set up to assist survivors.
Five of the people have already been transferred to different health centres. One of them has been taken to the Ntra. Sra. de Candelaria University Hospital in serious condition and the rest were in moderate and mild condition.
1998-built, Marshall Islands-flagged, 30,277 gt Insignia is owned by Insignia Vessel Acquisition care of NCL (Bahamas) Ltd of Miami, Florida, USA. It is entered with UK Club. As of June 22nd it was en route from Tenerife to Lisbon, Portugal, ETA June 23rd.