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Merchant and SAR ships assisted 180 migrants

Three precarious boats got assistance from the night of Jan 6, 2024, until the morning of Jan 7 in waters near Tenerife, El Hierro and Gran Canaria with 180 people on board, including six women. On Jan 7 at around 8:24 a.m. LT the 'Bencomo Express' informed the MRCC in Tenerife of the sighting of a canoe, stopped in waters near Los Cristianos. The 'Salvamar Alpheratz' was mobilized and at 9.30 a.m. located the canoe without steering and proceeded to rescue the 39 people on board, all of them sub-Saharan men, and headed to the port of Los Cristianos with the empty boat in tow. In the afternoon of Jan 6, the Civil Guard informed the MRCC in Tenerife of a canoe about 11 kilometers south of El Hierro, so the 'Concepción Arenal' was mobilized to investigate and located it at 8:25 p.m. It was escorted to the La Restinga dock where 87 sub-Saharan people, including six women, disembarked half an hour later. The same afternoon the Sasemar 101 aircraft located a boat sailing more than 90 kilometers south of Gran Canaria and mobilized the 'Salvamar Macondo'. The MRCC also diverted the 'CL Fugou' to the position, which escorted it and updating its course. At around 8:30 p.m. the 'Salvamar Macondo' began the approach and proceeded to rescue the 54 people on board, all of them North Africans, whom they disembarked after 11 p.m. at the Arguineguín dock.