At least two migrants died and 35 extra have been feared lifeless after an inflatable boat en path to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off northwestern Africa, sank on Wednesday, based on the Spanish authorities and an support group.

Carmen Lorente Sánchez, a spokeswoman for Maritime Rescue, Spain’s sea search-and-rescue company, mentioned “the lifeless body of a minor” and “the corpse of a man” had been discovered. She added that rescue operations coordinated by the Moroccan authorities had saved 24 folks.

But the toll was anticipated to rise because the boat carried 61 folks, based on Caminando Fronteras, a nongovernmental group that tracks the deaths of migrants.

The inflatable vessel en path to the Canary Islands sank simply days after as many as 650 migrants drowned when an overloaded fishing boat capsized off Greece per week in the past. That catastrophe has introduced renewed consideration to the rising variety of deaths of individuals attempting to succeed in Europe from the Middle East and North Africa, and to European nations’ dealing with of the folks and smugglers traversing the Mediterranean and Atlantic.

In the case close to Greece, investigators try to be taught what precisely occurred with the boat — whether or not smugglers refused help and panic led to a capsize, because the Coast Guard claims, or whether or not a failed try and tow the ship precipitated it to sink, as some survivors contend.

In the case on Wednesday, rights teams and different observers have been already asking questions concerning the Spanish and Moroccan responses.

Ms. Lorente Sánchez, of Maritime Rescue, mentioned a airplane operated by the Spanish authorities had noticed the boat on Tuesday evening. But the Spanish newspaper El País reported that rescue operations by the Moroccan authorities solely started at 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday, greater than 10 hours later.

Some local reporters and support employees additionally requested why the rescue operations had been carried out by Morocco. “The inflatable had been begging for rescue in Spanish waters for more than 12 hours,” Helena Maleno Garzón, who based Caminando Fronteras, mentioned in a Twitter post.

Ms. Lorente Sánchez mentioned the boat capsized about 46 miles off the Moroccan coast and about twice as removed from the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. But it stays unclear which nation is chargeable for rescues within the precise space the place the boat was noticed.

Migration routes linking West Africa to Spain, which cross each the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, have grow to be among the most perilous in recent years. In 2022 alone, Caminando Fronteras mentioned it had confirmed the deaths of 2,390 folks heading for Europe on these routes, together with 1,784 victims on the route between Africa and the Canary Islands.

On Tuesday, the Spanish authorities mentioned {that a} pregnant woman had died trying to reach the Canary Islands, after her physique was discovered on a dinghy carrying about 50 migrants.

As of mid-June, practically 6,000 migrants have arrived on the Canary Islands in inflatable boats this yr, based on Spanish government data.

International displays have noticed a rise in makes an attempt to cross the Mediterranean, and in deaths. Last yr, practically 3,800 migrants died on routes inside and from the Middle East and North Africa area, based on the International Organization for Migration — the best demise toll in 5 years.