Spanish police say they arrested 19 people suspected of being killed and tortured after losing more than 50 people from a migrant boat who was traveling from Senegal to the Canary Islands.
Police suspect that some of the victims were accused of being “charming” after several accidents during the trip, including engine failure, bad weather and food lack.
The Spanish National Police said that the wooden ship was rescued south of Gran Canaria on August 24, with 248 survivors on board.
But officials believe that about 300 people were originally on the boat, and that some had been thrown abroad.
He said in a police statement that the survivors told the police that some of their passenger colleagues began to “attack dozens of people, beat them and abuse them in various ways.”
“In some cases, they threw migrants at sea alive and refused to save those who fell in chance.”
The suspected killings were also documented “simply because some people protested or expressed their dissatisfaction with the conditions of the trip.”
A male passenger died in the hospital after he was found to be a serious patient when the ship was intercepted, according to the police.
Among the persons on board were people from Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, local media reported.
All the 19 suspects in detention of a trial face charges to facilitate irregular immigration, killing, assault and torture.
Spain is one of the points of entry of the front lines of irregular migration to Europe, with most of it entering the Canary Islands.
The Spanish Ministry of the Interior said that approximately 47,000 migrants arrived in the archipelago in 2024, and set a record for the second year, but the numbers were much lower so far this year.
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