EL HIERRO   -   Hopes of finding any of the 48 migrants missing since their boat sank near the Spanish island of El Hierro are diminishing, authorities said on Sunday, in what threatens to be the deadliest such incident in 30 years of crossings from Africa to the Canary Islands. Nine people, one of them a child, had earlier been confirmed as dead after the boat sank in the early hours of Saturday morning, emergency and rescue services said. Rescuers were able to pick up 27 of 84 migrants who were trying to reach Span­ish shores on Saturday. Three patrol boats and three helicopters were taking part in a renewed search for the others on Sunday, a Spanish coastguard spokes­man said. “Unfortunately we presume the worst. The search goes on but it seems that the chances of finding someone alive are slim,” a spokeswoman for the Canary Islands government told Reuters on Sunday. The migrants were from Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, Spanish authorities said. The number of migrants crossing from West Africa to the Ca­nary Islands increased by 154% from January to July, totalling 21,620 in the first seven months, data from the European Union’s border agency Frontex showed, while numbers fell on routes in the central and western Mediterranean during the same time.