Spanish police have arrested 19 people who are accused of murder and torture aboard a migrant boat, which traveled from Senegal to the Canary Islands last month. At least 50 people remain missing from the incident, with allegations of several having been thrown overboard.
All 19 of the suspects have been taken to pretrial detention on charges of facilitating irregular immigration, homicide, assault and torture.
Authorities believe that there were around 300 people on board the boat in total, with many of those missing thought to have been thrown overboard.
The small wooden vessel was found drifting in Atlantic waters on August 24 with 248 survivors on board after an 11-day journey, according to the Spanish National Police.
At the time, it was located just south of one of the Canary Islands — Gran Canaria.
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Survivors testimony
Survivors told police that several of their fellow passengers had engaged in "attacking dozens of people, beating and mistreating them in various ways" during the arduous journey, as detailed in the police report.
"In some cases, they threw migrants into the sea alive and refused to rescue those who fell in by accident," the document continued.
Some of the killings en route to Spain were apparently linked to superstitions, with victims accused of being "witches" who were responsible for misfortunes along the journey such as engine failures, food shortages or adverse weather.
Spanish police said that others were killed for protesting the harsh conditions on the small vessel.
One male passenger was found to be seriously ill when authorities rescued the group of migrants.
He later died in hospital.
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Changing routes to Spain
Over the past decades, Spain has emerged as one of the three main entry points for irregular migrants coming to the European Union, alongside Italy and Greece.
The route to Spain's Canary Islands from West Africa is particularly popular; however, authorities believe that thousands of people have died in recent years while attempting the dangerous Atlantic crossing, often traveling more than 1,000 kilometers on unseaworthy boats.
Almost 47,000 migrants managed to reach the Canary Islands last year, prompting authorities in Spain to seek assistance from West African governments to try and control the numbers of people making their way to Spanish territory.
This has resulted in a drop of over 50 percent in arrivals since the beginning of this year, according to the latest figures from the Spanish interior ministry.
However, this also means that at the same time, many smugglers are attempting new routes which are less patroled -- such as the journey from Morocco and Algeria to Spain's Balearic island group in the Mediterranean.
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with AFP