Dozens of people have died, including a baby, after a vessel was adrift in the Atlantic for 26 days.

Rescuers discovered survivors and some bodies on a small fishing boat which is said to have left Gambia almost a month before.

It was destined to cross the sea to the Canary Islands with 128 people on board, but ended up lost in the ocean.

Only 45 people survived the ordeal, and were rescued early this morning around 74 miles (120km) off Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, according to Spanish news agency Efe.

Survivors said they had sailed for the Canary Islands with ‘more than one hundred people.’

Rescuers also found five bodies remaining on board the canoe-style vessel.

Teams were forced to leave the five bodies behind due to rough seas.

The survivors were taken to the port of Arguineguin.

One of Maritime Rescue’s planes spotted the small boat before alerting the authorities overnight.

Spain’s Civil Guard confirmed that the canoe’s hull inscriptions matched a vessel which left Gambia last month.

Metro has approached Maritime Rescue for a comment.

The crossing from the African continent to the Canary Islands is one of the deadliest migrant routes, claiming hundreds of lives every year.

By June this year, 1,300 people had died trying to reach the Spanish islands, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.

The route from Gambia is among the longest crossings often attempted by migrants trying to reach the European Union, measuring around 1,242 miles (2,000 km).

Other departure locations along the African coast include Conakry, in Guinea, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, Saint-Louis in Senegal and Morocco further north, the closest country to Spain.

Spain faces the highest number of migrants arriving in the EU, including through Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish enclave located on the African coast.

Ceuta saw thousands of migrants swim to its barricaded shores this summer, overwhelming the police and with large camps set up on the city’s streets.

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has come under fire from critics for the handling of the situation in Ceuta after the arrival of around 72,000 people, many whom were returned to Morocco.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Madrid to protest the government’s handling of the mass arrivals.

The opposition is accusing the government of abandoning the residents of Ceuta, while the government has hit back and accused the right-wing groups of exploiting the crisis.

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