- Broken fingers could sideline Yankees' Rizzo as playoffs start
- New Jersey gets final as FIFA unveil Club World Cup venues
- Rovanpera outpaces Evans in the fog for Chile lead
- Camara snatches late win as Monaco move level with PSG in Ligue 1
- UK lawmaker quits Labour Party over PM's 'hypocrisy'
- Osasuna dismantle Barca's perfect Liga start
- Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
- Death toll from Hurricane John hits eight in Mexico
- Springboks wore Pumas down with 'slow poison', says Erasmus
- Ukraine says 10 killed in Russian strikes on hospital
- Bayern boss Kompany hopeful Kane will bounce back for Villa clash
- Kane injured as Bayern and Leverkusen draw in Bundesliga
- US grabs 8-6 lead after Saturday four-balls at Presidents Cup
- Salah sinks Wolves as Liverpool go top
- Revived Vlahovic shoots Juve top with double at fan-less Genoa
- Arteta happy with Arsenal's cool heads in late Leicester win
- Progress on high seas treaty, but change still far off
- Hundreds rally in France in defence of abortion rights
- Seven-try South Africa crush Argentina to become champions
- Storm Helene kills 44, threatens more 'catastrophic' flooding as cleanup begins
- Russia's Lavrov warns Europe against 'suicidal escapade' in fiery speech
- Embattled Netanyahu buoyed by Hezbollah chief's killing: analysts
- Man City held without Rodri as Palmer's four-goal haul fires Chelsea
- Chelsea's Palmer hits four first-half goals to beat Brighton
- Hashem Safieddine: possible successor to Hezbollah chief Nasrallah
- Leipzig's young stars on song in big win over Augsburg
- Etzebeth becomes most-capped Springbok to thunderous applause
- Kopecky dedicates road race world title to deceased junior
- Martinez double at Udinese fires Inter level with Serie A leaders
- SpaceX set to launch mission to return stranded astronauts
- In Acapulco and across Mexico, violence poses huge test for new president
- China warns against 'expansion' of Ukraine war
- 'Insane': Olympic champ Zheng joins Sabalenka in Beijing 3rd round
- Man City feel Rodri absence in Newcastle draw
- Israel kills Hezbollah chief in Beirut air strike
- England quick Archer cautiously optimistic after injury woes
- Hezbollah: powerful Lebanese armed group with regional role
- 59 dead in Nepal as downpours trigger floods
- Madrid can cover Mbappe injury absence in derby: Ancelotti
- Sinner 'surprised' as doping case reignites with WADA appeal
- Church must learn from abuse victims, Pope says on Belgium trip
- Ukraine says nine killed in Russian strikes on hospital
- Clarke's two tries help All Blacks to 33-13 win over Wallabies
- Israel says it 'eliminated' Hezbollah chief in Beirut strike
- FIFA ban Argentina goalkeeper Martinez for 'offensive behaviour'
- Bagnaia halves Martin's MotoGP lead with Indonesia sprint win
- WADA appeals after tennis No.1 Sinner cleared in doping case
- Jayasuriya takes 6-42 as New Zealand collapse to 88 all out
- Thousands bid farewell to Tokyo zoo pandas before return to China
- Austria Greens leave transport pass as legacy ahead of vote
Dozens missing, 9 dead in migrant boat wreck off Spanish Canaries
Nine people are confirmed drowned and at least 48 are missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Spain's Canary Islands overnight, rescue services said Saturday, the latest in a series of such disasters off the west coast of Africa.
Sea rescue teams said in a statement they had answered a distress call off El Hierro, one of the islands in the Atlantic archipelago, shortly after midnight. They managed to save 27 people out of 84 on board.
Anselmo Pestana, head of the Canary Islands prefecture, said survivors had told their rescuers that the boat had set off from Nuadibu in Mauritania, some 800 kilometres (nearly 500 miles) away.
They also suggested that there might have been as many as 90 people on board. Four of those rescued were minors, he added.
Pestana was speaking from the port of La Estaca, on El Hierro island.
The most critical part of the operation was when the rescue vessels approached the boat in distress, he told journalists, because it was vital that those on board the stricken craft stay calm.
They had to follow the instructions of the rescue crews to ensure their vessel stayed balanced and did not capsize, he added.
But as the migrants had gone two days without food or water, that probably contributed to the panic and the boat capsizing, he said.
Five ships, three helicopters and one plane had taken part in the search and rescue operation, he added.
- Record numbers arriving -
This disaster follows the death of 39 migrants in early September when their boat sank off Senegal while attempting a similar crossing to the Canaries, from where migrants hope to reach mainland Europe.
Thousands of migrants have died in recent years setting off into the Atlantic to reach Europe onboard overcrowded and often dilapidated boats.
The latest tragedy "again underlines the dangerousness of the Atlantic route", Canaries regional president Fernando Clavijo wrote on X.
"We need Spain and the EU to act decisively in the face of a structural humanitarian tragedy" as lives are lost "metres from Europe's southern border", he added.
In late August, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Mauritania and The Gambia to sign cooperation agreements to crack down on people smugglers while expanding legal means of immigration.
As of August 15, 22,304 migrants have reached the Canaries since the start of the year, up from 9,864 in the same period the previous year.
Almost 40,000 migrants entered the Canaries in 2023, a record on course to be broken this year, as easier navigation conditions from September tend to lead to a spike in crossing attempts.
The Atlantic route is particularly deadly, with many of the crowded and poorly equipped boats unable to cope with the strong ocean currents. Some boats set off from African beaches as far as 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the Canaries.
The International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, estimates that 4,857 people have died on this route since 2014.
Many aid organisations say that is a massive underestimate. Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish NGO that aids migrants, says 18,680 have died trying to reach Europe.
R.Veloso--PC