Hopes of finding 48 missing people fade after boat sinks off Canary Islands

At least nine people, including a child, have been confirmed dead and 27 rescued after a shipwreck off the Spanish coast.

Patrol boats and helicopters are searching for 48 refugees and migrants missing after their boat sank near the Spanish island of El Hierro, but officials say hopes of finding survivors are fading.

Nine people, one of them a child, have been confirmed dead after the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning, emergency and rescue services said. Rescuers were able to pick up 27 of 84 people who were trying to reach El Hierro, the westernmost of the Canary Islands.

A spokeswoman for the Canary Islands government told Reuters news agency on Sunday that the search continues “but it seems that the chances of finding someone alive are slim”.

Canary Islands regional President Fernando Clavijo had told journalists on Saturday night that the 48 people missing are “presumed dead”.

More bodies will likely appear “over the next two, three days”, washed up by the current, he added.