Two people dead on migrant boat off Spain’s Canary Islands

Two people died as they attempted to reach Spain’s Canary Islands on a boat with 40 migrants on board, while four others were evacuated by helicopter to hospital in serious condition, the Spanish maritime rescue service said on Tuesday.
The pirogue – a type of dugout canoe – was sighted on Monday evening at around 8 p.m. (2000 GMT) a merchant vessel which alerted authorities on the island of Gran Canaria.
Rescue services deployed two helicopters to evacuate the injured and a ship to tow the pirogue to the Gran Canaria port of Arguineguin, 76 nautical miles (140 km) to the north, where they were met by Red Cross staff and police.
The 34 survivors comprised 27 men and seven women of sub-Saharan African origin, a spokesperson for the rescue service told Reuters, without giving details of where the boat had started its voyage.
The EU border agency Frontex says the Atlantic route to the Canary Islands is the busiest route for irregular migration from West Africa into the European Union.