Woman ‘gang-raped on migrant boat’ at sea as ‘toddler thrown overboard for crying’

Lanzarote emergency services chief Enrique Espinosa told Cronicas Radio a crying two-year-old was thrown into the water from a migrant boat. He gave no date for the incident or details of any arrests.

Human traffickers hurled a two-year-old tot to his death from a migrant vessel in front of his mother because they couldn’t bear to listen to his crying.

The shocking disclosure was revealed by the head of Lanzarote’s Emergency Services Consortium during a local radio show. Enrique Espinosa was being questioned after police announced they had detained three men suspected of gang-raping a woman aboard a migrant boat during an Atlantic voyage in which more than a dozen people are thought to have perished.

The three suspects, all in their twenties, were apprehended following an inquiry launched after the alleged victim disclosed her horrific ordeal when the craft reached Lanzarote following a Spanish coastguard rescue.

When asked about the gang-rape arrests and whether he had ever witnessed “something as terrible as that”, Mr Espinosa told Cronicas Radio programme ‘A Buena Hora’: “There are even more terrible things than that. On a boat, they threw a two-year-old child who was crying with his mother into the water. They are terrible things.”

He continued: “There are first and second-class passengers. Those in second class go below and those in first class sit on top of them. When they start telling you things, you see that it borders on a lack of humanity. An end must be put to all this trafficking by mafias.”

Mr Espinosa, who has served in his current role for nearly 15 years and operates from the fire station in the Lanzarote capital Arrecife, provided no further details about when the horrific incident involving the little boy took place or whether any arrests had been made.

More than 450 migrants have been rescued off Lanzarote in recent days. Four boats carrying 262 people were intercepted by Spanish coastguards near the holiday island between Wednesday afternoon and the early hours of yesterday morning.

The sexual offences that prompted the arrests police announced on Wednesday are said to have occurred at sea on September 16 on an inflatable dinghy at the centre of a dramatic rescue operation the same day when 65 survivors were helped and three bodies pulled from the water.

The sub-Saharans aboard, reported to have departed from Tan-Tan in southwestern Morocco, informed authorities after reaching the Lanzarote capital Arrecife that another 10 people had been lost overboard during the crossing and they had exhausted their water supplies during the final part of their five days at sea.

Non-governmental organisations who helped the migrants following their arrival on European soil have since suggested the number missing could be around 14, pushing the potential death toll to 17. Some of the victims are reported to have plunged into the sea during the rescue operation as panic gripped the migrant boat’s passengers when Spanish coastguard vessels, named Salvamar Al Nair and Salvamar Acrux, attempted to assist them.

A National Police spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday: “National Police officers in Arrecife have arrested three men aged 21, 25 and 30 as alleged perpetrators of a multiple sexual assault committed against a woman during the crossing of a small boat bound for Lanzarote.

“The incident took place on September 16 at sea, in what are believed to be international waters. After the vessel arrived at the port of Arrecife, the victim informed rescue services that she had been sexually assaulted by several men during the crossing. Given her serious state of health, the necessary resources were activated to provide her with initial assistance and she subsequently received specialized care as a victim at police premises.”

The police spokesperson confirmed that officers from the National Police’s Family and Women’s Assistance Unit spearheaded the investigation: “A witness from the same vessel was located who stated that he had witnessed the incident. The three detainees have been remanded to prison following their appearance in court.”

The suspects’ nationalities remain undisclosed. An investigating judge is currently overseeing an ongoing criminal inquiry to determine whether to recommend formal charges at a later date.

In September of the previous year, it was revealed that police were probing an alleged double rape on a migrant boat whose occupants had arrived in Ibiza. Two young individuals, described as minors, reported to the police that they were sexually assaulted by two men during their journey from Africa.

They were taken to Can Misses Hospital for medical examinations before being formally interviewed by the police after reporting the incident upon their arrival on the holiday island. Just prior to the announcement of that investigation, police in Gran Canaria stated they believed “at least” 50 migrants were tortured and thrown overboard after being accused of witchcraft during a horrific boat crossing to Europe.

The initial allegations of mass executions at sea aboard the overcrowded vessel surfaced at the beginning of September the previous year when 248 survivors were rescued off the African coast and transported to Gran Canaria.

Detectives initiated an investigation after witnesses who were brought ashore claimed to have seen fellow migrants beaten and shot after people smugglers running the boat accused them of being witches when they encountered engine issues and began to run out of food.

Subsequent reports indicated that 17 men – 16 Senegalese nationals and one Gambian – had been arrested and held in custody by a Spanish judge investigating the allegations. On September 17 last year, police announced that 19 suspects had been apprehended as they unveiled the first images of the arrests and for the first time officially detailed the findings of their investigations into the harrowing Atlantic crossing thus far.

The migrants were brought to land at Arguineguin on Gran Canaria’s southern coast on 25th August, a day after the overcrowded boat, known as a cayuco, was rescued off the African city of Dakhla, 265 miles from the Canaries by Spanish coastguards.

Moroccan officials had stated they were unable to assist. All 19 men were remanded in custody after appearing before a judge and informed that they would continue to be investigated on suspicion of people trafficking, homicide, wounding and torture.

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