Toddler thrown overboard by traffickers in front of his mother on migrant boat

During a radio interview, Enrique Espinosa, head of Lanzarote's Emergency Services Consortium, described a harrowing episode in which traffickers threw a two-year-old boy into the ocean while his mother stood nearby, because his crying disturbed them. He highlighted a class system on the boats, where "first-class" passengers sit above "second-class" migrants who are forced below deck. The remark was made while discussing a recent gang-rape allegation on a migrant vessel that resulted in three men being detained.

Authorities have rescued more than 450 migrants near Lanzarote in recent days, but NGOs estimate that up to 14 people may have gone missing, raising the possible death toll to 17. The National Police have taken the three suspects into custody and are conducting a criminal investigation. The incident underscores the extreme violence faced by people smuggled across the Atlantic.