Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- A merchant ship, the Star Toscana, has managed to rescue on Tuesday the 54 occupants of an inflatable boat that was sinking 96 kilometers from Fuerteventura, in Moroccan waters north of Tarfaya, in a emergency operation coordinated by Spanish Maritime Rescue.
All the people who were on board the boat are now safe on board the Salvamar Ízar, which is sailing with them towards Fuerteventura, including two men who fell into the sea when the freighter crew helped them, but who managed to continue afloat clinging to the remains of the pneumatics.
It is, specifically, 49 men, four women and one minor, the sources have detailed.
His boat had been in search since Monday, when its occupants managed to make a distress call with a satellite phone to the Tarifa Coordination Center (Cádiz).
His SOS led Salvamento to ask all ships en route through that area to be vigilant, a notice to which the Star Toscana responded on Tuesday, a freighter of almost 200 meters in length with the Marshall Islands flag that was heading from Gibraltar to Brazil.
The Star Toscana received instructions to stay next to the inflatable, which was already adrift, waiting for a rescue ship to arrive, unless something unforeseen happened.
And so it happened: his sailors saw how two of the occupants of the pneumatic jumped into the water. Life jackets were thrown at them and they were able to get back on the zodiac, but then it started to sink.
With two life rafts, the crew of the Star Toscana managed to rescue everyone on board, including two who had been out of sight for a few minutes.
The Salvamar Ízar is expected to arrive at the port of Gran Tarajal with the 54 rescued around 10:50 p.m. (Canary Islands time). EFE