Five African migrants died on the perilous Atlantic route to the Canary Islands, Spanish rescuers said yesterday, but an NGO warned dozens more may have perished.

Spain’s maritime rescue service Salvamento Maritimo said one of its boats rescued 44 men of sub-Saharan origin from a boat drifting 65 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canaria on Wednesday night.

“Adverse weather conditions” initially prevented the retrieval of five corpses that remained on board. But a spokeswoman of Spanish migrant aid NGO Caminando Fronteras said 83 migrants had died, including three women and a baby girl, on a boat that left Gambia 27 days ago.