A migrant boat sank shortly after it set sail from Western Sahara, on the north-west coast of Africa, leaving 42 people dead, Spanish aid groups said on Friday of the accident that occurred earlier this week.
Helena Maleno Garzon, founder of the charity Caminando Fronteras (Walking Across Borders), said the dead included 30 women, eight children and four men. Only 10 of the occupants survived.
"We must not get used to such tragedies," another migrant aid organization, CEAR, wrote on Twitter.
The boat departed from Dakhla, in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, on Tuesday.
According to the accounts, around 30 minutes after leaving shore, the boat was hit by high waves and capsized. Fishermen saw the accident and alerted the police.
The passengers on the boat had reportedly wanted to reach the Canary Islands, more than 400 kilometres away, in order to land in Spanish territory.
Maleno Garzon reported that her organization had spoken to a distraught woman who had lost her two children in the accident. Only the body of her drowned daughter had been recovered so far, she said.
Caminando Fronteras recently said that in the first six months of this year alone, at least 2,087 migrants had died trying to reach Spain, and thus the EU, by water.
