According to the EFE agency, the kayak was spotted early this morning by the oil tanker Beskidy, which was heading from Brazil to Cartagena, warning by radio that the vessel was half submerged, which led to the dispatch of the helicopter to the location. rescue Helimer 206, based in Tenerife, as well as the Adhara rescue boat and a Guardia Civil patrol boat.
Helimer 206 picked up nine people who remained on board at around 09:35 in Spain (one hour more than in Lisbon) and who remained clinging to the vessel as best they could.
In the only testimony known to date, one of those rescued stated that there were no women or children among the 51 victims who disappeared in the ocean.
The vessel only had part of the bow above water level and a detached structure at the stern.
EFE had access to an image captured by the helicopter crew that shows a person lying at the highest point of the stern, which was out of the water, as well as another standing on the bow and others behind this, also in the front.
According to emergency services sources, the survivors told Helimer rescuers – and then ground assistance – that they had been in that situation for two days.
According to what they said at El Hierro airport, upon receiving the first medical care, the kayak left nine days ago from M’Bour (Senegal), around 1,500 kilometers from El Hierro, with 60 people on board, heading towards to the Canary Islands, but was shipwrecked on the seventh day of the voyage.
The survivors, all men, are the only ones who managed to stay afloat and climb back into the wreckage.
The nine rescued were taken to the Hospital de Los Reyes, in Valverde, where they received treatment for minor illnesses, in most cases related to dehydration and abdominal pain, said a spokeswoman for the 112 emergency number.
The rescue boat Adhara continued to navigate the wreck site and found that there were no bodies either in the kayak or in the surrounding waters, and its crew considered it unfeasible to tow the wreckage to land.
