More than 300 migrants aboard 11 boats were rescued by Maritime Rescue personnel near Lanzarote and Gran Canaria overnight on Tuesday, according to the 112 Emergency & Security Coordination Centre in the Canary Islands.
The migrants have been transferred to Arrecife, on the island of Lanzarote and Arguineguín dock in Gran Canaria for processing by the Canary Islands Emergency Service or SUC and the Red Cross.
A third body has been discovered off the coast of Órzola where a patera overturned on Tuesday night, taking the death toll to seven, according to the 112 Emergency & Security Coordination Centre, or Cecoes.
A massive search and rescue operation is underway by air, land and sea with an Emergency & Rescue Group helicopter, members of the Red Cross, Emerlan, Local Police, firefighters and the Guardia Civil.
27 of the migrants onboard the patera managed to reach land, but the authorities are still trying to determine exactly how many were on the boat, which capsized after hitting the jetty in rough seas. Some local residents who witnessed the incident jumped into the sea to try to save the migrants.
All of the survivors are men from the Maghreb who've reportedly told the authorities that women and children were also travelling on the boat.