At least five people have died and dozens more are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants from West Africa capsized in the Atlantic Ocean. Forty-four people were rescued off the Canary Islands, according to Spain's maritime rescue service, AP reports.

The agency said a plane found a boat in critical condition adrift about 120 kilometers south of Gran Canaria on Wednesday afternoon. Three people were immediately taken to hospital by helicopter, while the remaining 41 migrants were taken to the port of Arguineguin, where they were treated by Red Cross workers. All of the survivors were men, including minors.

The Red Cross said they had arrived from Mali and Senegal. The survivors were severely dehydrated and disoriented, with many collapsing or vomiting after reaching shore. The migrants said they had set sail from Gambia and spent “many, many days” at sea. Some estimated they had been at sea for almost a month. When their water and food supplies ran out, people began to fall ill, including from drinking seawater.

According to the survivors, there were initially more than 100 people on the boat, including women and a child. As people died, their bodies were thrown into the ocean until the remaining ones were exhausted. The Spanish maritime rescue service said it had found five bodies in the boat, but was unable to retrieve them due to strong winds and waves of up to 2.5 meters.

Meanwhile, human rights activist Helena Maleno Garzon, founder of Spanish charity Caminando Fronteras which monitors deaths and disappearances of migrants on the route to Spain, reported 83 deaths. According to her, among them were three women and a child.

Maleno claims that the boat had left Gambia 27 days ago. The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is considered one of the most dangerous migration routes to Europe.

Despite a significant decrease in the number of arrivals to the archipelago last year, tens of thousands of people have died or gone missing in recent years on this route. Some boats have been lost in the ocean and drifted as far as the coast of America.