At least 50 migrants, including 44 from Pakistan, are feared dead after their boat sank while trying to reach Spain from West Africa.
The boat left Mauritania on January 2, carrying 86 people. Moroccan authorities rescued 36 survivors on Wednesday, according to the migrant rights group Walking Borders.
The group, based in Madrid and Navarra, said they had informed authorities about the missing boat six days earlier.
Alarm Phone, an NGO that helps migrants in distress at sea, also contacted Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service on January 12, but the service said they had no information about the boat.
Relatives of the Pakistani migrants said human traffickers stopped the boat in the open sea and demanded more money from passengers before the tragedy happened.