Spanish maritime rescue services (Salvamento Marítimo) reported on 2026-09-03 that more than 80 people, including an infant, died on a cayuco that had departed Gambia 26 days earlier heading for the Canary Islands with 128 occupants. ^[1] Salvamento Marítimo said that when the Guardamar Urania arrived, only 44 survivors - all men - remained aboard along with five dead bodies, indicating that more than 80 of the passengers who had left Gambia had died during the ocean crossing. ^[2] Survivors told Red Cross workers during emergency care at the Arguineguín dock that they had set sail with more than 100 people, and that the vast majority of them had died during the voyage. ^[3] The cayuco, adrift south of the Canary Islands, was located on the afternoon of 2026-09-02 by a Salvamento Marítimo aircraft about 120 kilometers from Gran Canaria, and was assisted by the vessel Guardamar Urania toward midnight. ^[4] When rescuers reached the boat, only 45 survivors remained on board, along with five corpses that they were forced to leave in the cayuco due to the poor state of the sea. ^[5] Spain's Salvamento Marítimo (maritime rescue service) told EFE news agency that it located a migrant cayuco boat adrift about 120 kilometres south of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands at approximately 18:40 island time on 2026-09-02, and that its rescue vessel Guardamar Urania reached the boat around midnight on 2026-09-03. ^[6] Survivors told the Red Cross while being assisted at the Arguineguín dock that they had set out toward the Canary Islands with more than 100 people and that many of them had died during the journey. ^[7]