A total of 72 immigrants of sub-Saharan origin were rescued today by the Civil Guard of Mallorca and the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service, in three boats, off the coast of the island of Cabrera, in the Balearic archipelago.
All migrants appear to be in good health, the government delegation in the Balearic Islands reported.
The first boat, carrying 24 people, was intercepted about two nautical miles (3.7 kilometers) from the coast at 00:15 (23:15 Tuesday in Lisbon).
The other two boats --- one with 23 passengers and the other with 25 --- were rescued at 1:15 a.m. (00:15 in Lisbon), two and three miles (between 3.7 and 5.6 kilometers) south, respectively, of Cabrera.
Since the beginning of the year, 18 boats carrying migrants have arrived in the Balearic Islands, with a total of 384 occupants, according to a count by the EFE news agency.
Hours earlier, around 500 immigrants of Maghreb and sub-Saharan origin were rescued off the coasts of Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and El Hierro, a situation that has caused reception resources to collapse again, according to Spanish authorities.
Due to this situation, 94 people slept at the Arrecife dock, says the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service, which rescued 504 people who were traveling in nine precarious boats, including 13 minors.
According to information provided by Salvamento Marítimo, the ninth boat was located 122 kilometers southwest of El Hierro, after the telephone call at 6:30 pm on Tuesday (Canary Islands time), and there are around 70 people traveling on it.
At 4:51 pm (Canary Islands time), two boats assisted by the rescue vessel Guardamar Polimnia arrived at the port of Arrecife, after Maritime Rescue received two warnings of the presence of two inflatable boats located 47 and 72 kilometers, respectively, northeast of Lanzarote, in which a total of 97 immigrants were traveling.
The first operation took place after a 911 call from the boat itself, which was carrying 56 men, including three women and a minor of Maghrebi and sub-Saharan origin, and the second after a merchant ship and the Sasemar 102 rescue plane spotted another with 37 Maghrebi occupants, 34 men and three women.
All those rescued are in good health, according to Maritime Rescue.
The emergency services on Lanzarote, the island where six of the boats arrived, said they were preparing a tent in the port of Arrecife to accommodate 94 people to sleep.
