Spain arrests 19 on suspicion of torture and murder after 50 disappeared from the migration boat

Spanish police say it arrested 19 people suspected of murder and torture after more than 50 disappeared from a migration boat that was traveling from Senegal to the Canary Islands.

Police suspect that some of the victims were accused of “witches” after several incidents while traveling, including engine failure, bad weather and lack of food.

On August 24, 248 survivors survived a wooden vessel from the Canaria.

But officials believe that about 300 people were initially on the boat, and some were thrown overboard.

The survivors reported that some of their colleagues -the passengers began “attacking dozens of people, beating and abusing them in different ways,” the police said in a statement.

“In some cases, they threw migrants alive and refused to save those who fall by accident.”

The suspects of the murder were also recorded “simply because some people protested or expressed dissatisfaction with travel conditions,” the statement said.

According to the police.

Local media, which were part of people from Senegal, Guinea, Mali, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bisov.

All 19 suspects are in previous detention facing allegations of promoting irregular immigration, murder, attacks and torture.

Spain is one of the points of entry into the front for irregular migration to Europe, most come through the Canary Islands.

Almost 47,000 migrants reached the archipelago in 2024, setting the record for the second year, but so far this year the number was much lower, the Spanish Ministry of Internal Affairs said.